Family members of the victims of the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center are pressing state lawmakers to pass a law that would require the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to transport the ashes of victims, currently located at the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island, to another site, possibly ground zero.

Senator Martin Golden, a Republican of Brooklyn, said family members of victims played a major role in pressing for passage of a bill in the state Senate this week that would require the transport. The Senate bill was sponsored by Senator Thomas Morahan, a Republican of Rockland.

A companion bill introduced in the Assembly in March by Assemblyman Ryan Karben, a Democrat of Rockland, is under consideration by the chamber’s committee on corporations. Lawmakers in New Jersey have already passed legislation that requires the remains of victims to be moved to ground zero.

For any action to take place, the New York Assembly would have to pass a similar bill. The ashes of victims are located across 48 acres of land at the landfill.

Meanwhile, a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives is planning to consider reclaiming $125 million from New York that was originally intended for workers injured in the attack and afterwards.

The Associated Press reported yesterday that the money is part of the $175 million the Bush administration agreed to give the state toward its workers’ compensation programs as part of the more than $20 billion it gave the state for recovery from the attacks.