Research

The Legislative Commission on Energy Systems was created by Chapter 460, Laws of 1975. In 1979 (Chapter 50), the Commission was renamed the Legislative Commission on Science and Technology. The Commission consists of ten members, including both Members of the Legislature and private individuals. The Commission's responsibility is to study technical and scientific developments on our society and to report the Legislature on how these developments might affect the economic life of the state.

The predecessor to this Board, the Council of Economic Advisers, was created by executive order in 1968 to advise the Governor on economic and fiscal policy matters affecting the state, to study and report on economic trends in the state, to prepare an annual state economic report, and to make special economic and fiscal studies as deemed appropriate. The Council consisted of seven members appointed by the Governor, and was instructed not to duplicate the functions of existing agencies (Executive Order 30, November 1968).

The Assembly Program and Counsel Staff (formerly the Assembly Program and Committee Staff) was established by the Assembly in 1969. The office answers directly to the Assembly Speaker and Counsel to the Speaker; it is supervised by a Director and Deputy Director.

The position of State Historian was created by statute in 1895 (Chapter 393) and filled by appointment of the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. The State Historian's official duties were to "collect, collate, compile, edit and prepare for publication all official records, memoranda and data" relative to the wars and state relations of the Colony and State of New York. For nearly two decades he carried out this mandate by collecting and publishing records on the history of the state.

There has been a unit charged with the collection of statistical data since the creation of the Education Department in 1904. These units originally were also responsible for apportioning State aid to schools. These duties were handled by the Statistics Division from 1904 to 1917. In that year a Statistics Section (renamed Statistics Bureau in 1923) was established in the Administration Division. The Bureau was transferred to the Finance Division in 1928.

The Assembly Public Information Office was established in 1975 to assist the public in gaining access to the actions and records of the Assembly. Among the records made available by the Office are: the status of particular bills being considered by the Assembly; voting records on bills acted upon in the Assembly; attendance records of individual Members; debate transcripts; Assembly and committee agendas; memoranda relating to specific legislative proposals; annual reports of Assembly committee; and salary records of Assembly employees.

By act of the legislature passed on April 30, 1864, the secretary of the State Medical Society, Dr. Sylvester D. Willard, was authorized to investigate the condition of the insane poor in the various poorhouses, almshouses, insane asylums, and other institutions throughout the state (except those required by law to report to the legislature), and to transmit the acquired information to county judges in the state. Each judge then appointed a physician to visit the institutions where the insane poor were kept, to examine their condition and treatment.

In 1975, a State Court of Appeals decision (Hellerstein v. Assessor, Town of Islip, 37 NY 2d 1, 1975) declared illegal New York's system of classified property tax assessments. New York, as did most states, had a system that placed a larger share of property tax burden on businesses by assessing such property at a higher percentage of value than residential and agricultural property. The 1975 ruling mandated full value assessments on all property and many communities in the state began to comply with the ruling.

Although lotteries were a major source of state revenue in the early nineteenth century, New York State did not operate any state lotteries for nearly 150 years because the state constitutions of 1821, 1846, and 1894 specifically prohibited them. At the 1966 general election the constitution was amended to allow the establishment and operation of a state lottery. The following year (Ch. 278, L. 1967) enabling legislation created the lottery and designated that net proceeds be used for public education and scholarships.

The Commission was created in 1972 (Chapters 466 and 467). It consists of five members appointed by the governor, one of whom the governor designates as chairperson. The Commission was abolished in 1995 (Chapter 83) and its functions were transferred to the Public Service Commission.