New York Laws
Article 2 - Members, Officers and Employees of the Legislature
22 - Custody of Legislative Papers and Documents.

§ 22. Custody of legislative papers and documents. The secretary or
clerk of each house, as the case may be, shall take charge of and keep
on file all legislative papers and documents of such house, and those
presented to it; and shall cause all such papers and documents in his
charge to be so classified and arranged that they can be easily found.
As used in this section, "legislative papers and documents" means: bills
and amendments thereto; fiscal notes; introducers' bill memoranda;
resolutions and amendments thereto; and index records; messages received
from the governor or the other house of the legislature; home rule
messages; legislative notification of the proposed adoption of rules by
a state agency; members' code of ethics statements; transcripts, minutes
or journal records of public sessions, including meetings of committees
and subcommittees and public hearings, with the records of attendance of
members thereat and records of any votes taken; final reports and formal
opinions submitted to the legislature; and final reports or
recommendations and minority or dissenting reports and opinions of
members of committees, subcommittees, or commissions of the legislature.

No such paper or document shall be withdrawn from the files of either
house, whether the same be in charge of the regents of the university or
the secretary or clerk of such house, except that such secretary or
clerk, or a deputy appointed by him, shall have access to the papers and
documents of such house in charge of the regents for the purpose of
taking copies. Any person may obtain a certified copy of any such paper
or document in such files by applying to the secretary or clerk or such
deputy in charge thereof and paying to such secretary, clerk or deputy
such fees as are prescribed pursuant to the provisions of the public
officers law. Either house may, by resolution, order title deeds or
original documents accompanying any petition to be delivered to the
persons entitled thereto. The journals of proceedings and legislative
papers and documents of each house, heretofore published and now in the
custody of its secretary or clerk, and such papers and documents of each
house hereafter published and kept in custody of its secretary or clerk,
shall be deemed for all purposes to be the original journals of the
proceedings and the original papers and documents of such house. The
journal clerk of each house shall compare a printed volume or volumes of
its journal of proceedings hereafter published under the direction of
the secretary or clerk of such house with the original manuscript copy
thereof, and having noted in such printed volume or volumes each error
contained therein, shall attach thereto a certificate, under his hand
and official seal, that each such printed volume, as corrected, is a
correct transcript of the text of such original manuscript copy. He
shall thereupon deposit such printed volume or volumes, so corrected and
certified, in the custody of the secretary or clerk of such house, and
the same shall thereupon become and be deemed for all purposes to be the
original journal or journals of proceedings of such house; and the same,
or a copy certified by the secretary or clerk, or journal clerk may be
read in evidence. The manuscript copy of the journal prepared by the
journal clerk shall be kept continuously in the custody of the secretary
or clerk until the journal shall have been printed, compared, corrected
and certified in the form and manner provided herein, thereafter, in the
discretion of the secretary or clerk, such manuscript copy and the
original copies of introduced bills and resolutions may be destroyed.
The secretary or clerk shall cause a duplicate or typewritten copy of
said manuscript copy of each day's journal to be prepared and furnished
to the printer for his use in printing the journal.