Congress has passed the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, paving the way for health care and compensation for New Yorkers who have been sickened by the dust from World Trade Center attacks.

The bill has been in the works for years, pushed by New York politicians, fire fighters and police officers, but had stalled in the Senate earlier this month. After its sponsors agreed to scale down the cost of the bill considerably, from the $7.4 billion price tag approved by the House of Representatives in September, to $4.2 billion, it passed quickly.

The bill will continue to provide health care and monitoring for tens of thousands of first-responders, construction workers and Lower Manhattan residents who were exposed to World Trade Center dust in the weeks following the attacks.

But instead of continuing that monitoring effort for 10 years, the scaled-back bill provides only enough funding to last for five years. That’s still an advantage over the present system, which mandates federal funding for the effort be renewed on a year-by-year basis.

The bill also sets up a Victims Compensation Fund that will give monetary awards for to emergency workers and others who fall ill and lose wages as a result of exposure to the dust and to their families in case of death. The fund will be similar to one set up for people who were killed by the actual attacks.  

Information regarding your legal rights under the Zadroga Act will become available within 180 days from its enactment (on or about July 2011) once the new Special Master is appointed and develops regulations.