Updated

New York lawmakers plan to shift this year's state primary to a week after Sept. 11 to avoid distracting from ceremonies marking the terrorist attacks six years earlier.

In 2001, the state primary was under way when terrorists flew two jetliners into the World Trade Center towers. The primary election was suspended after the attacks and rescheduled for two weeks later.

The Republican-led state Senate approved a bill on Monday that would shift this year's state primary to Sept. 18. The legislation is sponsored in the Democratic-controlled state Assembly by Speaker Sheldon Silver and has the support of Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

"It is critically important that we reserve Sept. 11 as a day when the world looks back and remembers the many heroes who lost their lives," said state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. "The New York state primaries are an important symbol of the democratic process which was attacked on that horrible day. However, it would be unfitting to hold any event which would distract from the mourning process we undergo each year in honor of those who gave their lives on 9/11."