New York, NY —

Livery drivers in New York City and its suburbs will now have better access to workers' benefits.

Gov. Paterson signed a new law that establishes rules to define which black car drivers are employees, and which ones are independent contractors. It also creates a workers' comp fund for independent-contractor drivers.

He says up until now, injured livery drivers could go years without compensation as their cases bounced between the no-fault insurance and workers' compensation systems.