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NYS Senator Urges Governor To Sign Bill To Include 9/11 Firefighters' Kids

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

A New York state senator from the Hudson Valley is calling on the governor to sign legislation concerning the children of 9/11 firefighters.  

Republican state Senator Greg Ball is urging Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign a bill into law that he says would help children of firefighters who died as a result of illnesses from response to and recovery efforts from the September 11th terrorist attacks.

He says the bill would amend the civil service law and put the children of those New York firefighters who died on equal footing when it comes to civil service exams. The legislation awaiting the governor’s signature would provide the children and siblings of police officers, firefighters, and emergency medical technicians who died as a result of the September 11th World Trade Center attack or rescue operations following the attack to receive additional points on a civil service exam for a position that is located in the same municipality where the applicant's deceased parent or sibling served. These points are known as legacy points. Again, here’s Putnam County’s Ball.

The bill clarifies existing law by defining the term “killed in the line of duty” to include deaths that were the result of either the 9/11 attacks or participating in the ensuing rescue effort. A spokesperson for Governor Cuomo did not respond in time for this broadcast.

Ball says legacy points often make the difference between deserving candidates languishing on civil service lists for years and being selected to fulfill their dreams of following in their fallen parent’s footsteps in becoming first responders. He has created a petition for residents to sign, urging the governor’s immediate signature.

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