Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. THE ASSEMBLY STATE OF NEW YORK ALBANY January 22, 2002 Mr. Kenneth R. Feinberg, Special Master September 11th Victim Compensation Fund The Feinberg Group, LLP 1120 20th Street N.W., Suite 740 South Washington, D.C. 20036 Dear Mr. Feinberg: I am writing to recommend changes to the federal regulations that govern the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund so that they more accurately reflect the spirit and intent of the federal law and ensure that all of the victims and their families are able to access the fund and receive full and fair compensation. In your role as Special Master charged with overseeing the Victim Compensation Fund, I hope that the following revisions will be reflected in the final regulations: Allow all injured victims to file claims for benefits, including those who continued to work despite their injuries. Ensure that all eligible victims and their families receive, at a minimum, some basic level of award from the fund. Eliminate the requirements for contemporaneous medical records and that injured victims were required to seek medical care within 24 hours. Prohibit the Immigration and Naturalization Service from using claim information against undocumented workers or their families in deportation proceedings. Ensure that domestic partners of victims are eligible for compensation. Compensation should not be based on a pre-determined amount, but instead based on individual circumstances of the victims and their families, and allow them to prove their individualized losses. Charitable contributions will not reduce the amount of compensation. Advise claimants of their expected award before requiring a waiver of legal rights, so they can make informed decisions about whether to waive the right to sue. Ensure that compensation is provided for economic and non-economic losses. Pension benefits, life insurance, and other "collateral source" payments are intended to only cover economic losses, and should not be used to reduce the non-economic portion of the award. As a society, we will never be able to fully address the financial, emotional, and physical pain that the victims of the heinous attacks of September 11th and family members will face, however we can and must ensure that they have every opportunity to apply for the benefits of the Victim Compensation Fund as Congress envisioned, and, as important, receive full and fair compensation from the fund. I hope that you will address these issues in an effort to more accurately reflect the will of Congress and to provide for all of the victims and their families, many of who are residents of my community, in an equitable and expeditious manner. Thank you for your consideration of these comments. Sincerely, COMMENT BY: Thomas P. DiNapoli Member of Assembly September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-01-22 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojN002679.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-01-22