Public Employees Could Soon Get 9/11 Retirement Benefits

WORLD TRADE CENTER, NY — A bill to provide retirement benefits to public employees with 9/11-related illnesses passed the state legislature in the last days of session, according to a report from the Democrat & Chronicle.

Democrat & Chronicle reported a bill that more than 600 non-uniformed first-responders could receive disability retirement benefits under the new bill.

Following the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, various public employees assisted with rescue, recovery and clean-up, the bill says. Many began falling ill with various diseases associated with toxins at the World Trade Center site.

The state passed the World Trade Center Disability Law in 2005 to allow for first-responders with 9/11-related illnesses to receive 75 percent of their salary as a disability pension benefit upon retirement.

Under the new bill, the 2005 law would expand to an estimated 610 current employees in the state and local employees' retirement system. Those employees have a combined salary of $6.4 million.

"Hundreds of state employees responded in the hours, months and weeks after the towers came down," State Sen. James Gaughran of Nassau County said in a statement, as reported by Democrat & Chronicle. "They worked on the pile and they worked under the pile, side-by-side police and firefighters, but because of an unexplainable oversight, they lack the same protections as those considered uniformed employees."

In recent weeks on a federal level, lawmakers have yet to pass a bill to reauthorize funds for the cash-strapped 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart slammed Congress for waffling on passing the bill in an emotional testimony earlier this month.

"Why this bill isn't unanimous consent and a standalone issue is beyond my comprehension, and I have yet to hear a reasonable explanation for why," Stewart said at a recent hearing.

The bill to replenish the victim compensation fund for about seven decades passed in the House Judiciary Committee a day after the Stewart's testimony.

For the full Democrat & Chronicle report, click here.