Bill makes gender-neutral terms for police, fire jobs

Lawmakers in New York state have approved a bill that will officially remove the terms "policeman" and "fireman" in state law.

The Assembly approved a bill Tuesday that would replace the terms with the gender-neutral terms "firefighter" and "police officer." 

The bill would replace all instances of the words “fireman” or “policeman” with the words “firefighter” or “police officer” in order to update language and "promote participation" in the professions regardless of gender according to the sponsors of the bill.

The original bill was 147 pages long to address every instance that could be found in state law where the old terms were used.

The measure was approved by the state Senate last month. It will now head to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's desk for a signature.

The Democratic governor's spokesman, Rich Azzopardi, says Cuomo will review the bill.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.