There’s talk that a vote could come tonight on property tax reform. It’s still being printed. Another nugget in the 600-page bill is tax relief for Marion County residents’ 2007 tax bill. The legislation allows for $51 million in rebate checks among property taxpayers, even if they didn’t owe property taxes.

Also, the conference committee on illegal immigration has been pushed back to 5:45 p.m. I doubt if this thing (which would be found unconstitutional if it ever made it to court) will ever see the light of day.

Stay tuned.

I’m headed downstairs for the illegal immigration hearing, but here is some food for thought. HB 1001 (the property tax reform bill) is being printed off right now. It is 600 pages long and has to go to at least 150 members of the legislature. Any bets on how many will actually read it before voting on it tomorrow? Back in a bit.

I’m in the House chamber this afternoon.  Lawmakers are concurring on some small bills, while HB 1001 (property tax reform) is at the printer.  There are a few more details this afternoon such as counties with more than 20 percent of their budget going to debt service are free from the tax caps (Lake and St. Joseph) are the only two impacted, but once the debt goes below 20 percent the caps kick in.  In addition, the referendum dollar amount on schools is $20 million for high schools and $10 million for elementary.   A vote is expected tomorrow.

There is supposed to be a conference committee hearing on the illegal immigration bill in about 30 minutes.  I spoke to conferee chair Scott Pelath (D-Michigan City) who said he really didn’t see a need for the bill as there is a version waiting over in the Senate which could be passed today.

I’ll have more details later.

Make a note, my sources tell me Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama will be here Saturday doing a town hall meeting at Plainfield High School in Hendricks County. It makes perfect sense if you think about. If I was a black guy running for President, I’d make sure a lot of my supporters looked like someone else so I could show I had crossover appeal.

It looks like there definitely is a deal reached amongst Indiana lawmakers. In an interview this morning with State Rep. Jeff Espich (R-Uniondale), the House Republican point man on tax relief, he told me that there are caps in the agreement; one percent for homeowners, two percent for rentals and three percent for commercial property. Espich says the caps will benefit Marion County as 91 percent of the residential property is assessed at more than one percent of its assessed valuation. He says Hoosiers should expect an average 25 percent cut in the property tax bills. He also says the state’s assessment system is being reformed to make it more fair and uniform.

Espich also says SJR-1, the proposal to put caps into the State Constitution is still there to make the property tax relief permanent. He adds there is a one percent increase in the state sales tax and the state will keep it’s property tax replacement credits to pay for child welfare, pre-1977 police pensions and school operation costs. Espich also says there is referendum language for school and civic construction projects.

Democrat State Rep. Terry Goodin (D-Crothersville) says while caps will help some residential property taxpayers, but there will be others who will see a tax increase if their current assessments are below one percent. He also says there is relief for renters and low-income Hoosiers. He says the assessor issue still has to be worked out, but it’s likely that assessors in townships with less than 15,000 people will be eliminated. Assessors in those in townships with more than 15,000 parcels will be subject to elimination via referendum. Goodin says the priority for Democrats was to provide Hoosiers with tax relief, but also to protect schools.

State Senator Pat Miller (R-Indianapolis) says there’s anywhere between $600-$700 million in relief. She says for her the problem with assessments hasn’t been the assessors but the assessment process and that local government reform (i.e. the Kernan-Shepard Commission report) will get addressed next session.

State Senator Tim Skinner (D-Terre Haute) says his caucus has been worried that the caps will create a shortfall for local governments.

Neil Pickett, Policy advisor to Governor Mitch Daniels says lawmakers will tackle government consolidation next session because it will be necessary to control costs.  He says we are now entering a new era of taxpayer protection and it’s important not to go backwards.

Details still need to be worked out but all  lawmakers say they will be able to adjourn on time tomorrow.

That’s about as long as Indiana lawmakers have to close up shop with a deal on property tax reform before they have to start all over.  From what I’ve been able to gather late this afternoon, it looks like a deal has been reached on caps but they won’t be included (for now) in the state Constitution.  Lawmaker are also, I’m told, working on which entities might be exempt from the caps.

It also looks like the state is going to pick up a number of levies, including the pre-1977 police pension fund which has socked Indianapolis for $25 million a year on average.  In addition it also looks like the city won’t have to repeal the increase in the local option income tax and instead will be able to provide residents with more property tax relief.

This is what I hear for now, as always this could change.  But this is what I know right now.

Other news:  Barack Obama will be here Saturday.   My sources tell me they don’t know exactly when, but it will be an event near the airport.

The State Election Commission met this afternoon to hear a number of challenges.  It turned down a challenge to John McCain appearing on the ballot by holding signatures gathered in Indiana’s 4th Congressional District did meet state requirements.

It also turned down a challenge to State Senator Brent Waltz’ residency and was split over whether to hear whether Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Schellinger violated campaign finance law through use of a private plane to make campaign trips.

We’ll be at the State House tomorrow morning broadcasting live so be sure to tune in.

New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is in big trouble for letting his little head do the thinking for his big head.  But I have to ask this question.  Why is prostitution a crime?  Why is it illegal to sell something you either give away for free or get for dinner, a movie and some effort?

If Indiana lawmakers are close to a deal on property taxes,  they might want to speed up a bit.  There are three days left before lawmakers are forced to adjourn.  My sources tell me a lot of lawmakers are concerned about the possibilty of raising the sales tax without caps.  They also say a lone tax cap on residential property as proposed by House Speaker Pat Bauer would probably be ruled as unconsitutional since the Indiana Constitution requires all property be taxed in an equitable manner.   We’ll be broadcasting live from the State House tomorrow.

Note:  The Indiana Election Commission is having two hearings this afternoon.  One on whether John McCain is qualified to be on the ballot.  The second is over State Senator Brent Waltz and whether he resides in his district.

Extra Note:  Andre Carson’s win in the 7th Congressional District race not only makes him a Congressman, but also a super delegate in the Democratic Presidential race.  That also helps explain why Barack Obama called Carson right after his win last night to congratulate him.

By now you know Andre Carson, the grandson of the late Julia Carson, is on his way to Washington. Carson won 54-43 percent over Republican State Representative Jon Elrod. Libertarian Sean Shepard got slightly less than three percent of the vote. Turn out was about 18 percent or a total of 84,750 voters out of 466,000.

Carson told supporters he has to hit the ground running, and he’s right. Some of his fellow Democratic challengers are already starting the campaign for the May primary. State Representative David Orenlichter is announcing his candidacy today in Kennedy-King park. Alons side of him will be Dr. Derek King the nephew of Dr. Martin Luther King. Another challenger, Dr. Woody Meyers has already unveiled his campaign commercials.

It really should not surprise anyone that a Democrat in a predominately Democratic district won with a majority of Democratic votes. So it will be interesting to see which Democratic comes out of the May primary.

What makes me think it will be a fun race is that Carson got less than nine percent of the registered vote in the 7th Congressional District.

Unless something changes soon, Andre Carson will be next Congressman from the 7th Congressional District. With about 80-percent of the votes counted, Carson leads Elrod 53-44 percent.

Although Elrod led early in the evening, over the course of the evening vote count changed and Carson’s lead was cemented when eight Center Township precincts came in at about 9:30 p.m.

There are still some votes left to be counted so the race could tighten with 100 precincts left to be counted as this blog goes to print. Only about 15-percent of the registered voters showed up to the polls.

I’ll have more in the morning.