Legislature Starts Hardball Session

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INDIANAPOLIS - With just two weeks remaining before the Indiana Legislature's adjournment deadline, hardball negotiations loom as state lawmakers try to hammer out compromises on a property tax relief package, three strikes immigration bill and other issues.

Last week was the deadline for the House and Senate to finish voting on each other's bills. That leads into conference committee negotiations, the two-week stretch run where groups of House and Senate lawmakers try to reach agreements on conflicting versions of bills. Bills not approved in identical form by both chambers by March 14 are dead for the session. Big differences still divide negotiators over the shape of Gov. Mitch Daniels' property tax relief package contained in House Bill 1001:

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Legislature Starts Hardball Session

* The House plan would by 2010 cut homeowners' property tax bills by an average 29 percent statewide. The Senate plan would cut bills by about 27 percent. Both plans would raise the 6 percent state sales tax to 7 percent.

* The Senate plan requires r...

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