NYS Senate Passes Tedisco Bill to Help State Government Go Digital and Stop Wasting Paper and Save Tax Dollars

The New York State Senate today passed the “Legislative Online Paperwork Reduction Act” (S.4149A) sponsored by Senator Jim Tedisco (R,C,I,REF-Glenville) by a vote of 57-0 to save tax dollars and the environment by making legislative and state agency reports, digests and public records available online to promote greater government efficiency and reduce paper waste.

Senator Tedisco’s bill could save taxpayers millions of dollars each year by ending the unnecessary printing of state agency, university, authority and legislative reports, and digests.

“Passage of the ‘Legislative Online Paperwork Reduction Act’ is another positive step to moving state government into the 21^st century in terms of being more accessible, transparent and accountable to taxpayers by stopping the wasteful printing of certain documents and going digital with our reports, public records and communications.  This is a win for taxpayers by promoting greater government efficiency and a win for the environment by reducing the amount of ink-filled paper that ends up in our landfills,” said Tedisco.

Tedisco was the driving force behind passage in 2014 of the constitutional amendment, Proposition 2, to enable digital copies of legislation to suffice on legislators’ desks. Proposition 2 is saving taxpayers an estimated $13 million per year in reducing printing costs and keeping hundreds of thousands, if not millions of reams of papers out of landfills.

Tedisco also is sponsoring legislation (S.2883A/A.7962A) to encourage local governments to go paperless. The “Digital Home Act” would enable local governments to apply for existing competitive grants offered by the New York State Department of State’s Local Government Assistance Program of up to $10,000 to help reduce paper usage by going digital with their communications and achieving taxpayer savings at the local level.

The “Legislative Online Paperwork Reduction Act” now moves to the state Assembly for consideration. It is going to be sponsored in that house by Assemblywoman Sandra Galef (D-Ossining) who is in the process of introducing it.