he PBA has managed the nearly impossible by getting a piece of legislation enacted during the budget session, when the state legislature usually goes into political paralysis. The legislation, Assembly bill 00716, amends the vehicle-and-traffic law so that on-duty traffic accidents won’t count against an officer’s personal driving record.

This change recognizes that there is an inherent risk in responding to police emergencies and that it’s unfair to penalize the personal driving record of an officer risking his or her life in that response because of a job-related accident. Any of us who have had an on-the-job 53 knows that it can send your personal car insurance rates through the roof and that’s just not right. Why should our personal lives be penalized for something that happened in the execution of our duties?

Making matters even more unfair was the protection enjoyed by firefighters, even volunteer firefighters upstate, under the existing traffic law. Something needed to be done to correct these inequities and we did it under very difficult circumstances. Only two union-sponsored bills were acted on during the budget session and one was our insurance bill. The governor signed it into law May 11.

Another piece of legislation the PBA is pushing for is known as the “September 11th presumptive disability bill,” which would entitle city employees who worked either at Ground Zero or the Fresh Kills landfill protection against illnesses caused by exposure at those locations. Governor Pataki vetoed the bill last year because he felt it was too broadly written. Since then, the bill has been redrafted to address the Governor’s concerns. It has now passed both houses of the legislature and is awaiting his signature once more.

Unfortunately, we’re just beginning to see the earliest indications of the harmful effects of exposure to the toxic cloud created by the World Trade Center attacks. The PBA has already successfully litigated one case in which a judge ruled that a police officer was entitled to a job-related disability pension because exposure at the WTC caused or aggravated a cancer.

We are concerned about the possibility of similar cases and believe this legislation is proper and just and the best way to compensate those who sacrificed so much in the attempt to rescue and recover the victims of that tragedy. We will continue to work hard to pass this important piece of legislation.