As of this week, the entire New York State Legislature has gone paperless. An amendment approved by voters last November has put tablets in the hands of state lawmakers.
Capital Region Republican Jim Tedisco was the primary advocate for the change, which he says will eliminate wasteful paper from landfills.
“I’ll tell ya, I go in there, we hit a button, we can bring up a bill that’s 200, 300 pages long. We can go to a section. You pick it up and you can read it, debate the bill, go back to a section,” said Tedisco. “I mean, before, to tell you the truth we had our own bills flowing off other peoples’ desks, underneath the desks, thousands of pages of bills…”
Tedisco says the change will save taxpayers $13 million a year.