STATEHOUSE REPORT FROM REP. PHIL GIAQUINTA
A legislative session that feels like it started only a few days ago is about to enter its final stages. We must complete our work by March 14, which gives us three more weeks to wrap up negotiations on tax relief for Hoosier families.
Each week brings a new deadline. Thursday (February 21) saw the end of standing committee work in both the Indiana House and Senate. Next Wednesday (February 27) is the last day that representatives can consider bills sent to our chamber from the Senate, and that senators can act on bills sent to them from the House.
After that date, our attention will turn to the House-Senate conference committees that help negotiate final decisions on each chamber’s version of a particular bill. I’ll talk about those committees in more detail when we reach that part of the legislative session, because they are both highly influential and seriously misunderstood.
On the property tax front, the Indiana Senate has started revamping House Bill 1001 – which contains the governor’s property tax relief plan for this session – to reflect its own priorities. As I have mentioned before, the House version of this bill provides property tax relief and assistance to help those people most affected by the tax shift the governor wants as part of his program.
The Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee made several changes to the bill, including a phase-in of the 1-2-3 caps that limit the amount of property taxes that will be paid by owners of homes, farms and businesses.
The Senate plan gives additional relief to renters and takes steps to ensure that the governor’s plan to provide a supplemental homestead deduction is more fair. It builds on the tax relief options contained in legislation approved last year that gave counties the ability to either cut property taxes for homeowners or eliminate them completely.
I also am pleased that the bill contains a mechanism that can help protect schools and local units of government that stand to lose revenue through the tax caps. With this change, officials can hopefully avoid cuts in programs, personnel and services.
Finally, it is important to mention that both chambers agree the state should assume all local child welfare and remaining juvenile justice costs, changes that will provide permanent savings for property taxpayers.
Committee approval is just another step toward final passage of House Bill 1001. I suspect the legislation will go through more changes as it is considered on the floor of the Senate, and I can say with certainty that this bill will go to a conference committee for final negotiations between leaders in both chambers and the governor’s office.
However, I continue to be confident that we will pass tax relief in the 2008 session.
In other action, the House Ways and Means Committee approved a resolution that would place language for the property tax caps into the Indiana Constitution. Committee members changed the measure to make the cap for homeowners based on 1 percent of their income, rather than 1 percent of the assessed value of their homes.
If enacted, this provision would reduce the risk that some homeowners would see their taxes increase if they are currently paying at a rate lower than the 1 percent cap. It also addresses one of the major complaints about property taxes, which is that they do not reflect a person’s ability to pay. Basing a cap on household incomes will provide help to seniors and many working families.
I believe these points are worth discussing as debate on this issue continues and we consider the long-term effects of tax relief.
A plan to reduce illegal immigration in Indiana appears at risk in the House. Debate on a comprehensive proposal was suspended when House Republicans walked out of the chamber and refused to conduct business. I hope we are going to be able to vote on this important issue before the end of this legislative session, but the actions that have been taken worry me that partisan politics may be at work here.
The reform plan now in Senate Bill 345 focuses on penalizing those employers who continue to profit from hiring people who are in this country illegally. If this bill becomes law, companies who have hired illegal aliens on three separate instances in five years can have their business licenses suspended or revoked. First and second violations can lead to license suspensions.
The House version of Senate Bill 345 closed loopholes in the legislation that would have enabled employers to avoid having to verify the legal status of all workers. The House version also makes sure that enforcement is handled uniformly throughout the state, and that there is sufficient funding to handle enforcement.
By all rights, these issues should be addressed at the federal level. I feel that if the federal government was doing its job correctly, we would not be concerned about people coming into this country illegally. If we can make an impact in Indiana, I believe we should focus on the people who benefit from the labor of illegal aliens. Senate Bill 345 is an attempt to reach that goal. I hope we can pass something this session.
If you need to reach me during these final few weeks when the Legislature is in session, you can call using the toll-free Statehouse telephone number of 1-800-382-9842, e-mail me at H80@in.gov or write to me in care of the Indiana House of Representatives, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204.
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