Section 148. Salaries and expenses

1. The chairman and members of the board
  shall  devote  their entire time to the duties of their office and shall
  not practice in their respective professions or callings. The reasonable
  and necessary expenses of the board and  the  reasonable  and  necessary
  traveling  and  other expenses of the chairman and members of the board,
  the secretary and other officers  and  employees  of  the  board,  while
  actually engaged in the performance of their duties, outside of the city
  of  Albany,  or  if  any  such  officer  or  employee be in charge of or
  actually employed at an office of the  board  outside  of  the  city  of
  Albany,  the  reasonable  and  necessary  traveling  and  other expenses
  outside of the place in which such office is located, shall be paid from
  the state treasury upon the audit and warrant of the  comptroller,  upon
  vouchers  approved  by the chairman or vice-chairman or secretary of the
  board.
    2. For the purpose of extending the benefits of workmen's compensation
  and improving administration and expediting the adjudication of  claims,
  the   chairman   is   hereby   authorized,  within  the  limits  of  the
  appropriation available therefor, to initiate studies  and  surveys,  to
  observe  operations  in  other  states, to conduct research, and to make
  investigations in the entire field of workmen's compensation, within and
  without the state of New York. The chairman is also hereby authorized to
  accept a gift, grant, or  contribution  of  funds  to  be  used  in  his
  discretion  to  carry  out the purposes of this subdivision and shall in
  the annual report of the board set forth the progress of the same.