New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a sweeping package of bill aimed at combating police misconduct on Friday following protests of George Floyd's killing, including a ban on the use of chokeholds and the one allowing the release of officers' long-withheld disciplinary records.

The measures were approved earlier this week by the state's Democratic-led Legislature. Some of the bills had been proposed in years past and failed to win approval but lawmakers moved with new urgency in the wake of massive, nationwide demonstrations over Floyd’s death at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

Cuomo was joined at the signing ceremony by the Rev. Al Sharpton and Gwen Carr, the mother of Eric Garner, who was killed by police in New York in 2014.

"Police reform is long overdue and Mr. Floyd's murder is only the most recent murder," Cuomo, a Democrat, said.

The laws will ban police chokeholds, making it easier to sue people who call police on others without good reason, and set up a special prosecutor's office to investigate the deaths of people during and following encounters with police officers.

Eliminating the law, known as Section 50-a which was originally intended to shield good cops from vigilantes, would make complaints against officers, as well as transcripts and final dispositions of disciplinary proceedings, public for the first time in decades.

For generations, the law has been used to keep officers accused of misconduct and the departments they work for, from public scrutiny.

Decades-old measures which have allowed the police to keep the disciplinary and personnel records of officers secret may finally overturned. 

On June 18, City council members will vote on a long-delayed oversight bill that would force the New York Police Department to give details about its surveillance tools, the council's speaker's office said on Friday.

The Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act already has enough co-sponsors to win the two-thirds support needed to override veto from the mayor, who has opposed the bill.

"New Yorkers deserve to know the type of surveillance that NYPD uses in communities and its impacts," Council Speaker Corey Johnson said in a statement. 

Like other proposed police reforms, the POST Act has been in limbo for years. Backers said anger over the death of African American George Floyd in Minneapolis and its aftermath helped push the legislation forward.

(With input from agencies)