§ 25. Duties of the commission. The commission shall:

1. Draft or aid in drafting or examine legislative bills and
resolutions and amendments thereto, upon request of a member or
committee of either house of the legislature;

2. Advise as to the constitutionality, consistency or effect of
proposed legislation upon request of a member or committee of either
house of the legislature;

3. Make researches and examinations as to any subject of proposed
legislation upon request of either house or of a committee of either
house of the legislature;

4. Expend monies made available to the commission by appropriation for
the employment of personnel, including temporary services, and for
expenses of maintenance and operation, including labor, materials,
office supplies, communication equipment, furniture, alterations,
repairs, furnishings, purchase of books, development and operation of
systems in support of the legislature and traveling expenses, and for
services and expenses related to the legislative printing for the
legislature contract pursuant to section four of the New York State
printing and public documents law, including with respect to such
contract the printing of bills, additional copies of bills, the printing
and binding of session laws and the classification of appropriations
(black book), the senate and assembly journals and certain other
miscellaneous documents and messages set forth in such section four; and
for services and expenses incurred in the installation, rental,
development, maintenance and operation of centralized data processing
systems, programs and equipment for the creation of a data bank
containing the official statutes of the state and miscellaneous
information, including, but not limited to, the text of the rules and
regulations of state agencies as filed with the secretary of state for
use in the preparation and composition of bills; preparation and
composition of calendars, journals, session laws and miscellaneous
documents; the operation of a bill status retrieval system for the
senate and assembly; and the development of a statutory and other
miscellaneous information retrieval system for the legislature and other
entities; and for services and expenses related to the contract for the
printing, publication and distribution of the State of New York
Legislative Digest pursuant to section five of the New York state
printing and public documents law. Such funds shall be expended upon
approval of the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the
assembly or their respective designees, notwithstanding and unrestricted
by the provisions of any general or special law. All products purchased
shall be recycled products, which meet contract specifications, unless
the only available product does not contain recycled content, and
provided that the cost of the recycled product does not exceed a cost
premium of ten percent above the cost of a comparable product that is
not a recycled product or, if at least fifty percent of the secondary
materials utilized in the manufacture of that product are generated from
the waste stream in New York state, the cost of the recycled product
does not exceed a cost premium of fifteen percent above the cost of a
comparable product that is not a recycled product. For the purpose of
this section and until July first, nineteen hundred ninety-six,
"recycled product" shall mean any product which has been manufactured
from secondary materials, as defined in subdivision one of section two
hundred sixty-one of the economic development law, and meets secondary
material content requirements adopted by the office of general services
under subdivision one of section one hundred seventy-seven of the state
finance law for products available to the senate under state contract
or, if no such contract for such product is available, any product which
meets the secondary material content requirements adopted by the
secretary of the senate, or such other officers or employees of the
senate as the temporary president of the senate shall designate, and the
clerk of the assembly, or such other officers or employees as the
speaker of the assembly shall designate, respectively, with respect to a
specific commodity procurement by such entity. On and after July first,
nineteen hundred ninety-six, "recycled product" shall mean, for the
purposes of this section, any product which has been manufactured from
secondary materials, as defined in subdivision one of section two
hundred sixty-one of the economic development law, and which meets the
requirements of subdivision two of section 27-0717 of the environmental
conservation law and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto. Whenever
purchasing or causing the purchase of printing on recycled paper
pursuant to this section, the secretary of the senate, or such other
officers or employees of the senate as the temporary president of the
senate shall designate, and the clerk of the assembly, or such other
officers or employees as the speaker of the assembly shall designate,
respectively, shall require the printed material to contain the official
state recycling emblem established pursuant to subdivision two of
section 27-0717 of the environmental conservation law and regulations
promulgated pursuant thereto if such paper has been approved by the
department of environmental conservation as satisfying the requirements
of such statute and regulations, or, if such paper has not been so
approved, require the printed material to include a printed statement
which indicates the percentages of pre-consumer and post-consumer
recycled material content of such paper.