INDIANAPOLIS - Both the Indiana House and state Senate have lent their support to letting voters decide the fate of some public-construction projects.
Such referendums are a key concept in Gov. Mitch Daniels' property tax restructuring plan now under consideration by the General Assembly.
But majority Senate Republicans and House Democrats differ on what types of construction projects should go to the voters for approval at the ballot box.
Advocates of the plan say referendums offer a more efficient way for taxpayers to defeat costly projects that might increase their property taxes.
Senate Bill 18, which the full Senate approved Tuesday, would make any construction bond issue subject to a possible referendum, as long as the project cost $7 million or more. The bill passed 31-16 on a largely party-line vote and now goes to the House.
In the Indiana House, where Daniels' proposal is labeled House Bill 1001, state representatives made significant changes Tuesday night.
They excluded school-construction projects such as classrooms and laboratories that are directly education-related from the referendum requirement. Those projects would continue to fall under the current signature-collecting petition-remonstrance system, state Rep. David Niezgodski said.
"I do believe the process we have right now is an excellent process," said Niezgodski, D-South Bend.
Athletic facilities still would be eligible for voter referendums, he said, as would jails, libraries and other public-construction projects.
House Republicans ridiculed attempts to water down the referendum requirement.
"Do you think the people we serve are stupid or dumb or unable to make decisions in their own right?" state Rep. Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, told Niezgodski during House debate. Democrats pushed through the amendment, however, 50-44.
"There obviously is support in both House and Senate in both caucuses for some type of referendum on some projects," said state Rep. Dennis Avery, D-Evansville. For his part, Avery said he thinks the current petition-remonstrance process "has worked pretty well."
Although the basics of Daniels' plan remain intact, the Indiana House modified it while considering 102 amendments at a late-night session Tuesday.
Among those approved:
Senior citizens would see their property taxes frozen at 2008 levels. The freeze would apply to Hoosiers age 65 and older whose homes assessed at less than $200,000, and whose incomes are below $35,000 for an individual or $50,000 or less for a couple.
Renters would see their renters' deduction on their state income taxes expanded from the current $2,500 to $5,000 under an amendment the House approved 72-22.
A new supplemental standard deduction would be graduated, so that owners of more modest homes would see a more significant deduction while owners of more expensive homes would get a smaller deduction. Republicans criticized that change, but it passed 49-45.
"Mom and Pop and your friends and neighbors who pay the extra 1 percent on the sales tax shouldn't be paying for (property tax relief for) folks that own $1 million, $2 million homes," state Rep. Russ Stilwell, D-Boonville, said during House debate Tuesday night.
Under the Daniels "circuit breaker" plan, agricultural land would be counted as business property, and taxes would be capped at 3 percent of assessed value. The House changed that to instead cap taxes on agricultural land at the lower level, 2 percent of assessed value.
The duties of township-level assessors still would be transferred to county assessors, but the county assessors would remain elected officeholders, not appointees as the Daniels plan originally envisioned.
House Democrats plan to take a conclusive "third-reading" vote on the entire bill, House Bill 1001, as early as today and send it to the Senate.
In the Senate, meanwhile, the Daniels plan was split into several different bills and constitutional amendments. Some of them are eligible for votes.
"All these issues will be subject of a compromise and probably a final master bill, and not all these individual little bills," Avery said.
In other legislative news:
A Senate committee Wednesday approved a bill that could revoke business licenses for companies that knowingly hire illegal immigrants, but opponents warned it could have unintended consequences.
The Senate Pensions and Labor Committee voted 10-1 for Senate Bill 335, which would affect only workers hired after Sept. 30, 2009. The bill would set up a three-tiered punishment system for employers who knowingly hired illegal workers after that date.
A bill that would ban smoking in most public places in Indiana died Wednesday when a committee chairman said there was not enough time left in the 2008 short session to give it ample consideration.
The Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a hearing for today on Senate Joint Resolution 7, which would define marriage in the state constitution as being between a man and a woman. The same-sex marriage-ban amendment passed in the 2006 Legislature, but it died in a House committee in 2007. SJR 7 would have to be approved again this year or it could not go to the voters in a referendum for ratification. A House committee chairman had said he would not give SJR 7 a hearing this year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.