INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana lawmakers will get a jump start on the upcoming legislative session by holding committee meetings a month early, giving themselves more time to examine issues including property taxes, unemployment insurance and ethics.

The House and Senate both met Tuesday for a largely ceremonial organization day, but leaders also assigned several bills to committees so they could be discussed during December meetings before the session starts Jan. 5. Legislative leaders said the early meetings — dates of which have not yet been set — will give them more time to sort out complicated issues.

“I think that time can be well spent,” said House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend.

A Senate committee will meet in December on two proposals: a bill to delay unemployment tax increases on businesses and a resolution that could put property tax caps into the state constitution.

House committees will discuss the property tax caps, along with proposals to enact stricter lobbying rules, restrict privatization of state social services, require public works projects to hire mostly Indiana residents and limit annual increases in assessed property values.

Property tax caps are a priority for many lawmakers, including House Republicans who have made that their top issue for the 2010 session, said House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis. If lawmakers pass the resolution this year, voters will decide in November 2010 whether tax limits belong in the constitution.

But Democrats who control the House haven’t committed to taking a vote on the resolution this session.

“We are reviewing the situation,” Bauer said Tuesday.

The tax caps would limit homeowners’ property tax bills to 1 percent of their homes’ assessed value, with 2 percent caps on rental property and 3 percent limits for business property. Bosma said the limits would permanently protect taxpayers.

“Hoosiers deserve to vote on this issue in 2010,” he said.

Leaders in both the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-led House have said they will work in the 2010 session to tighten lobbying and ethics rules. The House will start work in December on Bauer’s proposal, which would require legislators to wait a year after leaving office before becoming a Statehouse lobbyist and require lobbyists to report gifts of more than $50 given to legislators and candidates, instead of the current $100 reporting requirement.

The Senate hopes its December committee meetings will help fast-track a bill to delay unemployment tax increases on businesses from 2010 to 2011. Senate Republicans said the bill would help companies retain workers and possibly delay the increases long enough for the state to get a federal bailout on the debt it accumulated to pay its jobless claims.

The January legislative session is expected to be especially politically charged as lawmakers head toward the 2010 elections. The state constitution requires Indiana lawmakers to vote on new legislative maps following the U.S. Census every 10 years, so the parties in power after the elections will draw the maps in 2011 after the 2010 Census.

Redistricting will likely be an issue during the session, as some have proposed revamping the way Indiana creates new legislative maps so the process is less political and keeps county or township lines together when possible.

The poor economy will also loom over the session, with sagging state revenues limiting what lawmakers can do. A new state revenue forecast is due out in December, but the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute said Tuesday that lawmakers and the administration of Gov. Mitch Daniels will continue to face tough decisions.

“While Indiana has weathered the recession so far, there is no end in sight,” said institute president John Ketzenberger.

Posted 11/18/2009