Assembly Okays 9/11-Tied Fatal Illness Benefit

By GINGER ADAMS OTIS

The State Assembly Feb. 14 passed a bill that would grant accidental-death benefits to uniformed first-responders who become fatally ill with diseases linked to toxins present at the Ground Zero site during rescue and recovery operations.

SHELDON SILVER: Added coverage.

The bill is expected to get Senate approval this week.

Important Addition

The measure closes a loophole in previous legislation awarding disability pensions to 9/11 first-responders who are ill. The 9/11 Disability bill, signed by Governor Pataki, awards pensions to uniformed workers and other first-responders who are afflicted by certain diseases and can prove they worked at least 40 hours at specific 9/11-related sites. But the bill doesn't provide death benefits for the families of workers who die from their 9/11-related illnesses.

The bill is named for former Det. James Zadroga, a Ground Zero worker who died in January 2005 at age 34 from pulmonary disease. His family learned after his death that his five-year-old daughter, Tylerann, was not eligible for benefits beyond those already covered in his disability pension.

Union leaders and health advocates argued that Detective Zadroga's family should have qualified for line-of-duty or accidental death benefits, since he passed away from pulmonary failure related to exposure to toxins at Ground Zero.

Who's Covered

The bill passed last week in the Assembly seeks to extend accidental death benefits to cops, firefighters, Sanitation Workers, Emergency Medical Service workers and others who were exposed to toxins by participating in the recovery and cleanup at Ground Zero, the Fresh Kills landfill or the city morgue.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver praised his colleagues for the bipartisan effort that got the measure passed.

"This bill will make it clear, once and for all, that these courageous municipal employees are entitled to accidental-death benefits as provided by the law," he said.