SHOWDOWN OVER CAPS LOOMS: As House Democrats derailed one key piece of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ legislative agenda, the governor ramped up pressure on House Speaker Patrick Bauer to keep another of his top priorities on track (Evansville Courier & Press). On Tuesday, just hours after the governor’s drive to overhaul local government was defeated in a House committee, Daniels joined 200 people at a Statehouse rally. He urged lawmakers to vote this year for a proposal that could write property tax caps into the state’s constitution. “There’s one man who can make possible one vote that can protect Hoosier taxpayers forever,” Daniels said, referring to the speaker. It’s the latest turn in the relationship between perhaps the two most powerful people in Indiana government. Daniels has said Bauer’s authority is total, and no legislation passes through the House without his OK — a claim underscored by the speaker’s ability to thus far block top priorities of a governor recently re-elected in an 18-point landslide. After killing the Kernan-Shepard Commission local government reform bills, Bauer appears poised to punt the amendment that would make permanent last year’s property tax caps — 1 percent for homes, 2 percent for rental properties and 3 percent for businesses — until next year. Bauer said those who demand the Legislature pass the “circuit-breaker” amendment this year “simply do not know how to tell time.”
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