A New York City protester is restrained and arrested. Photo: Ryland West/ALM

The New York Senate on Tuesday passed a bill to repeal a contentious state law used to keep police disciplinary records secret, one in a slate of police reforms that gained momentum following outrage over the death of George Floyd.

Lawmakers began to vote on the package of reforms this week after nationwide protests over police brutality, which have sparked larger conversations on systemic racism and the role of law enforcement in American society.

The repeal legislation passed by the state Senate does away with section 50-a of New York's Civil Rights Law, a decades-old statute used to put a cover over officers' disciplinary records. 

The bill repeals the law, but stipulates carve-outs that would prevent the release of officers' medical history, their home addresses and cellphone numbers. That information would be redacted under the bill.

The state Assembly had not passed the measure by press time Tuesday, but the chamber is poised to green-light the measure.

"So I think hiding behind the curtain because they were treated in a different way is over now," said state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins in a radio interview. 

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has said he will approve any legislation that reforms or repeals the 50-a statute.

Supporters of the repeal argue it protects officers with a history of misconduct from public accountability. 

Enacted in the 1970s, the section was approved to protect against defense attorneys putting officers through harassing cross-examinations based on irrelevant or unproven material in their personnel files, according to a 2018 report from the state's Committee on Open Government. 

Due to the law's interpretation and its application in the courts, what began as a narrow exception to the state's public records law transformed into "a virtually impenetrable" statutory bar for the release of information, the committee argued. 

"The courts' broad reading of §50-a deprives the public of information essential to democratic oversight and lends a counter-productive shield of opacity to the State and local police agencies," the committee said in its report.

Police organizations have raised opposition to the repeal measure, saying in a memo that the protections keep them safe.

They argued that opponents to the law favor releasing all complaints, including ones that were not substantiated. The groups wrote that those complaints would expose an officer to "unavoidable and irreparable harm to reputation and livelihood."

Katherine Rosenfeld, a partner at Emery Celli Brinckerhoff & Abady, described the expected repeal as a "huge step" in changing the special treatment of those covered by 50-a. But she said there are some concerns about the actual accessibility to the records, even with the change.

With the repeal measure poised to pass the Legislature, Betsy Ginsberg, director of the Civil Rights Clinic at the Cardozo School of Law, said it remains to be seen if cities and state agencies will provide the disciplinary record or resist disclosure. 

New York lawmakers chipped away at each other's arguments in floor debates Tuesday.

State Sen. Fred Akshar, a Republican whose district covers Binghamton, raised the issue of unsubstantiated complaints during a debate over the bill Tuesday. 

State Sen. Jamaal Bailey, a Democrat and a sponsor of the legislation, countered by suggesting that an unsubstantiated complaint against an officer doesn't mean it didn't happen, it just means it could not be proved.