Assemblyman Tom McKevitt announced the towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead are to receive significant increases in state aid as part of the 2006-2007 legislative budget agreement reached.

"The funding for both towns will allow them to use the money as they deem fit to lessen the burden on homeowners," McKevitt remarked. "This is a clear victory for the working families in Hempstead and North Hempstead."

McKevitt noted the towns are to each receive a 19.96 percent increase over the current year's state aid allocation. Hempstead is to receive $3.9 million in state aid while North Hempstead is to get over $1 million.

"I am happy to help deliver this essential aid to the towns encompassing the 17th Assembly District," McKevitt concluded.

Assemblyman Tom McKevitt joined in support of a state budget amendment that would have reinstated the death penalty for individuals convicted of murdering police and correction officers. However, Assembly majority Democrats blocked the measure's introduction, according to McKevitt.

"It's time to allow a full up or down vote on the reinstatement of the death penalty in the Assembly," McKevitt said. "The state Senate has put the measure up for a full vote continuously, while the Assembly majority continues its refusal to allow a clear vote."

The state Legislature and Governor George Pataki in 1995 reinstated the death penalty in 1994. In 2004, the state's highest court, the Court of

Appeals, ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the Senate's Codes Committee has approved death penalty legislation and sent it on to the full Senate for a vote in the coming weeks.

McKevitt pointed out the legislative budget agreement reached includes an additional $1.7 million in funding for the capital defenders office, a state agency that defends death row inmates - even though there is no longer a death penalty in New York.

"Providing additional funding to the capital defenders office with no death penalty makes no sense," McKevitt said. "We owe it to the men and women who serve and protect us every hour of every day to reinstate the death penalty immediately."