Research

Administrative History

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.