9/11 Responders To Get Pension Help Under New Laws

NEW YORK — A new package of New York laws will help volunteers and first-responders who aided the 9/11 rescue efforts access their pension and health benefits, state officials said.

Five bills Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed Wednesday — the 18th anniversary of the attacks — will offer benefits to more people sickened from their work at Ground Zero and make it easier for responders to claim sick leave and disability pensions.

The laws aim to do right by the thousands of people who put their lives on the line to help New York City recover from the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center that claimed more than 2,600 lives, officials said.

"The 100,000 brave men and women who showed up to help on 9/11 deserve to be taken care of the way they took care of us, and we're not going to leave them alone because they are American heroes," Cuomo, a Democrat, said in a statement after signing the measures at a 9/11 remembrance ceremony.

One of the new laws allows government entities outside New York City to get reimbursed for their employees' line-of-duty sick leave, making it easier for 9/11 volunteers who currently work for the state to claim their sick time, according to the governor's office.

Another measure allows a larger number of physicians to examine members of New York City's major municipal retirement system for 9/11-related conditions, which will cut down on delays and denials for responders who apply for disability pensions, state officials said.

A third bill gives families of certain workers five years after a loved one dies to file for accidential death benefits, while a fourth expands the pool of employees eligible for World Trade Center disability benefits, Cuomo's office says.

The fifth bill establishes a presumption that FDNY retirees diagnosed with certain cancers got them on the job and opens a five-year "lookback" window that makes them eligible for disability benefits, according to state officials.

Cuomo also held a ceremonial signing Wednesday for a bill requiring all public schools in the state to hold a moment of silence marking 9/11. The governor officially signed the measure into law on Monday.

The package of laws included three "9/11 Heroes Bills" sponsored by state Sen. Andrew Gounardes of Brooklyn, who praised Cuomo for signing them.

"'Never forget' means that we take action to support the first responders who willingly risked their own lives on 9/11 to protect others," Gounardes, a Democrat, said in a statement.