New York New York State Printing and Public Documents Law Section 7 - Vegetable ink printing.

  7.  Vegetable  ink  printing. 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.

Last modified: February 3, 2019