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In 1901 (Chapter 372), the legislature passed the State's first probation law, which provided for the appointment of probation officers by justices of various courts. In 1907, a State Probation Commission was established (Chapter 430) to supervise the work of all probation officers. During the reorganization of State government in 1925-26, this commission was continued as head of the Division of Probation within the Department of Correction.

Official law reporting in New York State dates from 1804, when the Supreme Court was authorized by Chapter 68, Laws of 1804, to appoint a reporter of its decisions. With various changes, reflecting alterations in the State's judicial system, official reporting has had a continuous existence since that time, and is now carried on by the State Law Reporting Bureau which, in its present form, was created by legislative act, Chapter 494, Laws of 1938, enacting Article 14 of the Judiciary Law. The bureau is under the direction of a State Reporter, appointed by the Court of Appeals.

The New York State Constitution of 1894 (Article 14, Section 2) required the submission in 1916 to voters of the question of whether to hold a constitutional convention to revise and amend the Constitution. The Legislature subsequently voted (Laws of 1913, Chapter 819) to move up this election to April 7, 1914. In this election, the state's voters agreed to hold a constitutional convention in 1915. In preparation for this Convention, the Legislature established a Constitutional Convention Commission (Laws of 1914, Chapter 261).

The Factory Investigating Commission was established by an act of the legislature in 1911 (Ch. 561) as a reaction to the March 25 fire at a Manhattan shirt factory. 146 employees of the Triangle Waist Company, mostly women and girls, were killed as a result of the fire. An investigation followed immediately and revealed unsafe and unhealthy conditions in numerous factories, including lack of fire prevention and escapes and inadequate sanitary conditions.

In 1967, Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller established a Women's Unit within the Office of the Secretary to the Governor to serve as an information clearinghouse for State departments dealing with issues of specific interest to women. The unit resulted in part from recommendations of a 1966 Governor's Conference on Women. The status of the unit and the resources available for its work were upgraded by Governor Hugh L.

The office was established by Governor Mario M. Cuomo's Executive Order No. 79 in 1986, with jurisdiction over several executive agencies which handled large sums of money in contracts with local governments, community organizations, and private corporations. The jurisdiction of the office was expanded by Executive Order No. 86 of 1986 to include all agencies, departments, or divisions headed by appointees or nominees of the governor. Executive Order No.

The office of the state Fire Marshal was established in 1911 (Ch. 451). The State Fire Marshal was appointed by the Governor for a five-year term, and his duties were to enforce laws relating to prevention of fires, use of combustibles and explosives, and availability of fire alarms and fire extinguishers; inspect steam boilers; regulate fire escapes; and investigate causes of fires. The office was abolished in 1915.

Elmira Correctional Facility is a maximum security institution receiving first offender male felons 21 to 30 years old by direct commitment from the courts. It also receives youths from the Reception Center, usually ages 18 to 20, who have a more serious background, but who show good potential for rehabilitation. Construction of this institution was approved by the legislature in 1871 (Chapter 715), and it opened in 1876 as the New York State Reformatory at Elmira. Elmira's authority and functions were established by the legislature in the Laws of 1877, Chapter 173.

The Court for the Trial of Impeachments and Correction of Errors was established under the state constitution and served as New York's impeachment court and court of last resort between 1777 and 1847. Its colonial predecessors were the Court of Assizes, 1664-1684; the Court of Chancery, 1683-1691; and the Court of Errors and Appeals, 1691-1783. The last colonial court continued in British-occupied New York until the end of the Revolution. Each colonial court consisted of the Royal Governor and his Council.

The Senate Finance Committee is one of the most powerful committees in the Legislature because of its role in formulating and revising all appropriation bills considered by the Legislature. All Senate bills involving expenditure or suspected expenditure of state funds are referred to the Finance Committee for consideration. The Ways and Means Committee serves the same fiscal functions in the Assembly. The duties of both the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee are proscribed in the Legislative Law, Article 2, Sections 27-33.