N.Y.
Executive Law Section 161
Certain searches, the filing of papers, and certified copies, ordered by state officers to be gratuitous
1.
Each of the following officers, to wit: the secretary of state, the comptroller, the commissioner of taxation and finance, the attorney general, the public service commission, the commissioner of agriculture and markets, the commissioner of transportation, the industrial commissioner, the chairman of the state labor relations board, the chairman of the state liquor authority, the superintendent of financial services, the state commissioner of human rights, the commissioner of general services and the commissioner of housing and community renewal may require search to be made, in the office of any of the others, or of a county clerk or of the clerk of a court of record, for any record, document, or paper, where he or she deems it necessary for the discharge of his or her official duties, and a copy thereof, or extracts therefrom, to be made and officially certified or exemplified, without the payment of any fee or charge.2.
No salaried officer of any city, county, or court, of this state, or any public officer who is required by law to deposit the fees collected in his office into any city or county treasury, shall be entitled to receive from said state officers, or from a division or bureau of said state officers, any fee for entering, filing, docketing, registering or recording any paper, record or document required by law to be filed in the office of any such city, county, court, or public officer, or for a certified copy, transcript or extract of any paper, document or record on file in such office which he deems necessary for the discharge of his official duties, and every such officer must, upon application therefor, furnish to said state officers, or a division or bureau of said state officers, for such official use, a certified copy, extract or transcript of any paper, record or document on file in such office without the payment of the fee prescribed by law therefor; nor shall any court clerk demand or receive from any of said state officers, or from a division or bureau of said state officers, any trial or jury fee upon filing in any court in this state a note of issue or demand for a jury trial.3.
Such salaried officer shall also furnish the services herein specified to any state department or a bureau or agency thereof acting as an agent of the state in the acquisition of real property, without the payment of any fee or charge.
Source:
Section 161 — Certain searches, the filing of papers, and certified copies, ordered by state officers to be gratuitous, https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/EXC/161 (updated Sep. 22, 2014; accessed Jun. 18, 2026).
