New York State Assemblyman G. Oliver Koppell Subject Files

Roughly alphabetical by subject.

G. (Gabriel) Oliver Koppell was elected as a member New York State Assembly in 1970 and served for over twenty years. He represented the 80th Assembly District (previously the 84th Assembly District), part of Bronx County, as a Democrat, and served as a member of the Rules, Ways and Means, Judiciary, and Transportation committees. He also chaired the Environmental Conservation Committee; the Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions; and the Judiciary Committee. In the 1986 session, Koppell was chairman of the Assembly Democratic Task Force on Ethics. He is best known as author of New York's "Bottle Bill" (Returnable Container Law). Selected to fill the unexpired term of Attorney General Robert Abrams (who left the post to wage an unsuccessful campaign for governor), Koppell was inaugurated on December 30, 1993. He served through 1994, but did not stand for election as attorney general after failing to win the Democratic Party nomination.

This series contains records generated or collected by Assemblyman G. Oliver Koppell's office and pertain to the wide range of issues in which the assemblyman was involved. The records include correspondence, memoranda, printed materials, reports, draft legislation, and hearing testimony relating to other assembly members and staff of the legislature, state and local government officials, individual constituents, and representatives of various associations, organizations, and citizen coalitions.

The largest group of records pertain to Koppell's role as chairman of the Committee on Corporations, Authorities, and Commissions. One cubic foot of the records relate to the financing, operation, and maintenance of the Metropolitan Transit Authority (New York City), including three dozen photographs on MTA maintenance and safety. Two cubic feet of records relate to approximately forty topics, with the largest portions pertaining to prison reform; real property and taxation; school financing; bank redlining; and the East Hudson Parkway Authority.

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