Hochul signs bills with 9/11 survivors, Hauppauge street in mind

Gov. Kathy Hochul, on the Monday anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, signed bills intended to increase awareness of federal aid programs for survivors and rename part of a Hauppauge roadway to honor a Port Authority police officer from the hamlet who died of cancer after working at Ground Zero.

The notification law is designed to benefit a pool of hundreds of thousands of people who were not first responders after the attacks but worked in parts of lower Manhattan and northern Brooklyn and therefore may be eligible for federal compensation and health care programs.

It requires businesses near the World Trade Center that had people return after the attacks to notify them of their potential eligibility for the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund and the World Trade Center Health Program. The law covers businesses with 50 or more employees who worked in the so-called “disaster area” between Sept. 11, 2001 and May 2002.

“New York remains committed to honoring the legacy of those lost and providing resources for victims and their loved ones,” said Hochul in a news release after a signing ceremony in New York City.

In that release, bill sponsor state Sen. Brian Kavanagh (D-Manhattan) said the law is intended to help “workers, including retail employees, cleanup workers, office workers, building services staff, and others who were in the vicinity of the World Trade Center during and after the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks and who may experience WTC-related illnesses.”

The WTC Health Program provides monitoring and treatment for people with WTC-related illnesses. The 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund makes payments based on a victim’s estimated lost earnings and other noneconomic losses.

Less than 10% of a pool of 400,000 potentially eligible workers have enrolled in those programs, versus 85% of eligible police and firefighters, Michael Barasch, managing partner at the Manhattan law firm Barasch & McGarry, which represents people seeking 9/11-related compensation, said in an interview.

“They were breathing the same toxic dust as firefighters and cops, coming down with the same exact illnesses, dying from those illnesses — and not taking advantage of these two programs.”

Another law will ceremonially rename a portion of Route 111 in honor of Port Authority police officer Steven Tursellino, a Hauppauge resident who was 45 when he died in 2013 of cancer after working search and recovery at Ground Zero. The roughly one-mile section of the roadway is located between routes 454 and 347 in Hauppauge.

Tursellino’s widow, Lisa Tursellino, said in an interview that the renaming — just two days before the anniversary of his death — was “a bright spot on an otherwise dark day.”

She said officials had told her there would be a sign honoring her husband and an unveiling ceremony, though a date had not been set.

She plans to take their four children, aged 13 to 23.

”It’s something we’re proud of and we can’t wait to share with the rest of our family and our community.”