October 17, 2002 | Read Time: 1 minute
Last year’s decision to ease the federal policy on providing disaster relief has created a disparity in the amount of money given to the families of those killed in last year’s terrorist attacks, according to an official at the New York State Attorney General’s Office.
Following concern about slow payments to victims, Congress reversed an Internal Revenue Service policy that required charities to help only those who demonstrate a need for financial or other assistance. Instead, charities could help victims of the attacks without first determining whether they needed the assistance. Charities said the decision would let them disburse aid more quickly
As a result, “the disparity in what people received is extraordinary,” Marla G. Simpson, a New York assistant attorney general, said at a meeting of the National Association of Attorneys General and the National Association of State Charity Officials. She estimated that the families of victims who were not affiliated with a labor union received $150,000, and perhaps as much as an additional $20,000 per child. “That’s in contrast to a firefighter’s family, which has received those funds plus $1-million,” she said.
