New York State Assembly Sub-committee on Affirmative Action Reports, Testimony, and Background Files

In 1986 the Sub-committee on Affirmative Action published a report, "Affirmative Action: The Crisis," reviewing affirmative action policies and activities in New York's state and local governments. The report recommended legislation to provide a legislative basis for the state's affirmative action policies, previously based on the governor's executive orders #6 and #21.

In 1987 and 1988 the sub-committee worked on an updated study. Public hearings and research led to the publication of "Affirmative Action: The Crisis, Volume II" in September 1988. Again legislation was proposed to provide a statutory basis for state affirmative action policies. Upon publication of this report, the sub-committee was dissolved.

The series provides valuable documentation on affirmative action policies and plans in New York's public sector and in higher educational institutions in the state. Statistical data gathered by the sub-committee provides details on workforce composition in state government; questionnaires provide data about state agency and local government affirmative action policies and activities.

Records include transcripts of public hearings; statistical data; statements submitted by state and local officials to the sub-committee; completed questionnaires prepared by state agencies; and newspaper clippings, background reports, statistical tables, correspondence, and other materials concerning the sub-committee's work.

The series consists of the same types of records generated during the sub-committee's 1983-1985 study. Major types include transcripts of public hearings held in New York, Binghamton, and Albany in 1987-1988; prepared statements and supplemental documents submitted by state and local officials to the sub-committee in conjunction with the public hearings; reports from state agencies concerning their affirmative action policies and plans; reports from state agencies detailing, by ethnic group and gender, their workforce composition (some reports also present ethnic group and gender profiles of workers who are Vietnam-era veterans); completed questionnaires submitted by State agencies, county and municipal governments, and public and private higher educational institutions (these 6-page questionnaires contain information on the affirmative action policies and activities of the government bodies and educational institutions); and newspaper clippings, background reports on affirmative action, and correspondence deriving from the sub-committee's studies.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.