SAGE ADVICE

Three Republican legislators have teamed up to urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to convene a new Tech task force, which would operate under his Spending and Government Efficiencies Commission, to help the state go paperless to save tax dollars.
This move comes a week after Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, R-Glenville, who is one of the three members advocating this move, publicly advocated for an end to automatic printing of bills, legislative digests and daily sheets.
“We can help our environment and save tax dollars by bringing in the ‘Geek Squad’ of the world’s leading IT all-star experts to help find the bottom line savings for New York by going digital and stopping wasteful printing,” said Tedisco.
His plan, which includes state Senator Greg Ball, R-Patterson, and Sen. Lee Zeldin, R-Long Island, would have the tech savvy consultants discover ways the state's more than 70 state agencies, 48 public authorities, 64 SUNY schools and 20 CUNY campuses could limit their printing costs.
In an "e-mail" (stressed Tedisco's chief of staff) to the governor, they made their case to save millions in printing costs by seeking the advice of pioneers in technology from IBM, Xerox, Facebook, Apple, Twitter, Microsoft and YouTube. No word yet on whether Mark Zuckeberg will handle this problem himself, or just send his understudy, Jesse Eisenberg to offer advice.
Ball noted that while the gov't was asking ordinary people to do their part in shouldering the budget pain, the state could begin to chip in by limiting their costs. "These paper reliant systems are not eco-friendly or fiscally wise, and while it may have worked for Teddy Roosevelt, it's not working anymore. Let's follow the paper trail and zoom in on the duplicative and unnecessary processes and procedures, costing taxpayers millions,” said Ball.
This announcement comes on the heels of numerous bills from this session and in the past, which would give local municipalities all the way up to state agencies the freedom to limit their required printing.
No word yet on whether the legislation announced by Tedisco last week will include a constitutional amendment to satisfy the requirement of bills on a member's desk, which currently wouldn't be fulfilled by electronic copies.