The bill, if enacted, will extend through the year 2022 the deadline by which an individual must submit paperwork attesting to their participation in the rescue or cleanup efforts, as well as any certification of any medical condition they developed afterward. Currently, the deadline for such notice (for City and State programs) is September 11 of this year. The measure would also allow people who had previously applied for such benefits (between 2015 and 2017), but were denied, to resubmit their claims for further consideration.
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State Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou: “This legislation will give rescue, recovery, and clean-up workers the opportunity to receive the benefits they deserve.”
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“Although it has been 17 years since the attacks,” Ms. Niou said, “some rescue workers are only now feeling the effects. The onset and progression of some of the diseases resulting from exposure occur at a slower rate than others, and it is critical that we keep this in mind when it comes to policies designed to help these individuals and their families. This legislation will give rescue, recovery, and clean-up workers the opportunity to receive the benefits they deserve.”
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Kimberly Flynn, director of
9/11 Environmental Action
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Kimberly Flynn, director of 9/11 Environmental Action (a non-profit advocacy group whose mission is to ensure that those who were affected physically or emotionally by the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 get the specialized health care they need, and to which they are legally entitled) said, “there is no deadline for the emergence of 9/11-related health problems for the people exposed to this unprecedented disaster. So any deadline for responders to access benefits for their 9/11 mental or physical health impacts must be extended. Responders, including the cleanup workers exposed to toxins as they cleaned many of Lower Manhattan’s high rises, got the city back working again. New York owes them access to benefits as their needs arise.”
Charlene Obernauer, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, said, “medical conditions resulting from exposure to toxins after 9/11 are continuing to emerge in this population, and extending the deadline of 9/11 heroes to apply to receive benefits is crucial.”
Ms. Niou’s bill has also passed the State Senate. The next step will be for the Assembly (as the house of the State legislature that first passed the bill) to deliver it to the Governor’s office, for his signature or veto.