BILL NUMBER:S3812

TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the legislative law and the executive law, in relation
to enacting the "legislative online digital paperwork reduction act"

PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to reduce the number of bills, reports,
digests, records and various documents printed by the New York State
Legislature and establish a process to make these documents available
electronically through the websites of the New York State Senate,
Assembly and State Agencies.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1:  Establishes the title of the bill as the "Legislative
Online Digital Paperwork Reduction Act."

Section 2: States the creation of a new section, Section 44-b to
Legislative Law.

Section 44-b: Establishes that all documents produced by the
Legislature and Members of the Legislature be done electronically and
made available for printing on the websites of the State Assembly and
              

State Senate. This includes reports, digests and records produced by
the Legislature.

Section 3: States the creation of a new section, Section 170-c to
Executive Law.

Section 170-c: Establishes that all State Agencies shall make their
annual reports available on their websites for printing. State Agency
is defined as any department, board, bureau, commission, division,
office, council, committee or office of the state in addition to
public benefit corporations and public authorities.

Section 4: States law shall take effect on the nineteenth day after it
is signed into law.

JUSTIFICATION:

Each year, thousands of bills are introduced and every single measure
gets printed multiple times. It has been estimated that this could
save taxpayers millions of dollars.

Eliminating automatic bill printing would save money and save
resources, Instead of having all legislation and reports printed on
paper, making them available on a digital format where lawmakers can
view it on their laptops and mobile devices would deliver significant
savings.  If necessary, Members of the Legislature, State Agencies and
the public could print a copy from their own computer.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed similar legislation (by a
vote of 399-0) to stop the mandatory printing of congressional bills.
Several state legislatures have gone paperless or are experimenting


with going digital. They include California, Connecticut, Florida,
Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode
Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West
Virginia and Wisconsin, It's estimated that Ohio has saved $1.5
million since going digital.

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2014: A.6080; referred to governmental operations
2014: S.3499; referred to investigations and governmental operations
2012: A.6470; Motion to discharge lost
2012: A.6470; referred to governmental operations
2011: A.6470; referred to governmental operations

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act will take effect on the 90th day.