Section 7-A. Vegetable ink printing  


Latest version.
  • 1. The legislature finds and declares
      that:
        (a)  most  state  printing  involving  documents  or  publications  is
      performed using lithographic inks;
        (b)  various  types of oil, including petroleum and vegetable oil, are
      used in lithographic ink;
        (c) increasing the amount of vegetable oil used in a lithographic  ink
      would:
        (i) help reduce the nation's use of nonrenewable energy resources;
        (ii)  result  in  the  use  of  products that are less damaging to the
      environment;
        (iii) result in a reduction of volatile  organic  compound  emissions;
      and
        (iv) increase the use of renewable agricultural products;
        (d)  the  technology  exists  to use vegetable oil in lithographic ink
      and, in  some  applications,  to  use  lithographic  ink  that  uses  no
      petroleum distillates in the liquid portion of the ink;
        (e)  some  lithographic  inks  have  contained vegetable oils for many
      years; other lithographic inks have more recently begun to use vegetable
      oil;
        (f)  according  to  the  federal  government  printing  office,  using
      vegetable-based  ink  appears  to  add  little if any additional cost to
      government printing;
        (g) use of vegetable-based ink in  state  government  printing  should
      further develop:
        (i)  the  commercial  viability  of  vegetable-based  ink, which could
      result in demand, for domestic use alone, for two billion  five  hundred
      million  pounds  of  vegetable  crops  or five hundred million pounds of
      vegetable oil; and
        (ii) a product that could help the United States retain or enlarge its
      share of the world market for vegetable ink.
        2. Definition. In this section, "state agency" means  any  department,
      board,  bureau,  division  or  other  entity  of  the  state, any public
      authority or public benefit corporation, the  judiciary  and  the  state
      legislature.
        3. General provisions. Notwithstanding any other law, beginning on the
      date  that  is  one hundred eighty days after the effective date of this
      section, all lithographic printing performed  or  procured  by  a  state
      agency  that  uses  oil  in  its  ink  shall  use  the maximum amount of
      vegetable oil that is technologically feasible and results  in  printing
      costs  that  are  cost-competitive  with  printing using petroleum-based
      inks.
        4. Requirements. (a) Except as  provided  in  paragraph  (b)  of  this
      subdivision,  in no event shall a state agency use any ink that contains
      less than the following percentages of vegetable oil in its ink used for
      lithographic printing:
        (i) in the case of news inks, forty percent.
        (ii) in the case of sheet-fed inks, twenty percent.
        (iii) in the case of forms inks, twenty percent.
        (iv) in the case of heat-set inks, ten percent.
        (b) At any time at which a state agency determines that  the  cost  of
      printing with vegetable-based ink is significantly greater than the cost
      of  printing  with  petroleum-based ink, the state agency may perform or
      procure lithographic printing using ink  that  contains  less  than  the
      percentages  of  vegetable  oil  in  its  ink  than  those  specified in
      paragraph (a) of this  subdivision  until  such  time  as  the  cost  of
      printing  with vegetable-based ink is not significantly greater than the
      cost of printing with petroleum-based ink.
    
        (c) A determination made under paragraph (b) of this subdivision shall
      be reviewed  at  least  once  every  quarter,  for  the  performance  or
      procurement of printing of materials that are printed on a regular basis
      and prior to performing or procuring the printing of particular material
      of  significant  size that is printed once or is printed at intervals of
      six months or more.