§ 3161. Terms occurring in laws, contracts or other documents. Upon
the transfer pursuant to section thirty-one hundred fifty-six of this
title of the functions and powers possessed by and all of the
obligations and duties of the New York state office of science,
technology and academic research as established pursuant to article
ten-B of the executive law to the foundation as prescribed by section
thirty-one hundred fifty-six of this title, whenever the New York state
office of science, technology and academic research and the chairperson
thereof, the functions, powers, obligations and duties of which are
transferred to the foundation are referred to or designated in any law,
contract or document pertaining to the functions, powers, obligations
and duties transferred and assigned pursuant to this title, such
reference or designation shall be deemed to refer to the foundation and
its executive director. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, all
rights and benefits, including terms and conditions of employment, and
protection of civil service and collective bargaining of all employees
affected by the transfer of the New York state office of science,
technology and academic research to the foundation, shall be preserved
and protected under the transfer, and all transferred employees and all
persons employed by the foundation after the transfer, except for
research and investigative high technology scientists, shall be
considered for all purposes of article fourteen of the civil service law
public employees in the civil service of the state and employees who are
transferred shall remain in the same collective bargaining unit and any
newly created positions shall be assigned to the appropriate collective
bargaining unit as if they were employees of the state. For proposes of
this section, the term "research and investigative high technology
scientists" shall mean persons with an understanding of empirical
methodologies, the ability to apply scientific knowledge to test
theories, and possessing the expertise to make systematic observations
of natural, empirical phenomena that can also be conveyed in a
meaningful way to policymakers.