New York Gov. George E. Pataki signed a law Monday ordering New York City to pay more generous death benefits to relatives of city workers who took part in the rescue and cleanup efforts at the World Trade Center site and who later die from certain cancers or respiratory illnesses. He signed the law over the objections of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who warned that it would cost the city $5 million to $10 million a year and could obligate the city to pay generous death benefits to workers who die decades from now from illnesses that may not in fact be related to their work after Sept. 11, 2001.
See "Pataki Signs Law Increasing Death Benefits for Ground Zero Workers", Michael Cooper, The New York Times, August 14, 2006