by LUIS PEREZ
Gov. George Pataki stood at Ground Zero Monday and ceremoniously signed three bills granting belated medical and accidental death benefits to 9/11 rescue and recovery workers -- an act that Mayor Michael Bloomberg quickly criticized as fiscally premature. The bills, passed by the legislature earlier this year, affect thousands of police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other first responders, as well as construction workers and volunteers who toiled for months amid the smoking ruins. The new laws:
-give families of fallen police officers, firefighters, paramedics and other first responders accidental death benefits. -allow accidental disability benefits to retired rescue and recovery workers if they later fall ill because of 9/11. -pay for medical care for those who worked at Ground Zero while their claims are being processed. -speed up applications for medical care that would normally require pre-approval. Pataki also signed an order for state agencies to review laws, rules and programs to ensure that all rescue workers receive needed benefits. "As it is clear that many champions of 9/11 have developed debilitating illnesses over time resulting from their selfless acts, these New Yorkers need to know that New York State will not abandon them," said Pataki, who was joined by police and fire department union leaders. In his first direct comment to reporters about the bills, Bloomberg said the city would be adversely affected by payouts for city workers under the new laws that could continue for the next decades. "Once again, it's just another example of the state of New York doing something they want to do, but making the city pay," said Bloomberg, who said that other city services may have to be cut to pay for the benefits provided under the new laws. "There's no free lunch, and Albany doesn't seem to understand that." Bloomberg said that the federal government should help foot the bill for accidental death benefits -- which the city must now pay on top of pensions. He also suggested that there needs to be stronger scientific proof that working at Ground Zero caused health problems. "People, I think, all agree we should help those who stood up there and helped, but you have to make sure there is a connection between what they did and what happened," Bloomberg said last week on his weekly radio program. The state workers compensation board had filed 10,779 claims related to the World Trade Center, officials said. But there are also thousands of volunteers who toiled at the site, and the new laws will make them eligible for benefits as well. The new laws also eliminate a previous deadline for workers and volunteers to file for benefits, extending that date to Aug. 14, 2007.
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