Lawmakers wary over special session

INDIANAPOLIS -- With backing from rank-and-file, most leading lawmakers are miffed at Gov. Frank O'Bannon's order for a special session and are skeptical of its chances for compromise tax legislation.\n"I know the governor is in a very terrible situation, and I just think that he might feel he has no other choice. But sometimes you can't do the impossible," said House Ways and Means Chairman B. Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend.\nO'Bannon met privately Tuesday with caucus and fiscal leaders to discuss the state's pressing financial problems. He said he hoped that over the next month, legislative leaders will work toward agreement on balancing the budget and restructuring taxes.\nIf they cannot strike a deal, O'Bannon said he will call the full General Assembly back to work May 14 for a special session.\nLawmakers adjourned the regular session March 14 without passing comprehensive legislation addressing either the projected $1.3 billion budget deficit or tax restructuring.\nLongtime Rep. Robert Alderman, R-Fort Wayne, did not take part in Tuesday's meeting with the governor, but many legislators share his assessment that a special session would be fruitless.\n"I'm trying to be a practical thinker," Alderman said. "When the whole House is up for re-election, half the Senate is up for re-election, and we come back here cold and create some -- quote -- tax restructuring program? It just isn't going to happen."\nLawmakers last held a special session in 1997, when O'Bannon called them back to resolve differences over a two-year budget and other tax matters.\nO'Bannon has said he considers tax increases to balance the budget a prerequisite to adequately funding education and social services and overhauling taxes. He plans another meeting with fiscal leaders on Thursday.\nSenate President Pro Tem Robert Garton, R-Columbus, said little after Tuesday's meeting.\n"We said, "You call it and we'll show up,"' said Garton, who has adamantly opposed raising taxes this year during a recession.\nWhen asked if he thought a special session would be successful, he said, "We'll just wait to see what happens."\nAlthough O'Bannon has announced more spending cuts since the regular session ended, he says tax increases are still needed to balance the budget. He wants to raise taxes on cigarettes and casinos, and suspend two income tax cuts approved in 1999 to shore up the deficit.\nThe Democrat-led House and Republican-ruled Senate each passed plans that would raise some taxes in order to make substantial cuts in property taxes. Those efforts were aimed at promoting economic development and shielding homeowners from higher property tax bills under reassessment.\n But unlike the House Democratic plan O'Bannon supported, the Senate GOP version would not have directed any revenue from tax increases on cigarettes and casinos to help balance the books. It also would not have rolled back the two 1999 tax cuts O'Bannon wants to suspend.\n Senate Republicans have insisted that O'Bannon can manage the deficit on his own by making spending cuts, account transfers and tapping reserves.\n They say that under O'Bannon's own plan, the state could get by without tax increases or major cuts in education and still end the two-year budget cycle in July 2003 with $390 million in ready reserves.\nO'Bannon has said that would barely be enough to meet cash-flow obligations, and the state would still need $800 million in new revenue during the next biennium just to maintain spending levels for schools, state agencies and social services that fall outside federal mandates.\nAlthough the governor can call a special session, he cannot guarantee its success.\nHe acknowledged that some lawmakers are unhappy with him. Among other things, he said some were concerned about the possibility of being in special session for more than a month.\n"I'm always optimistic, but I'm not as optimistic as I normally am," he said about the prospects of solving the fiscal problems.\nSen. Vi Simpson, D-Bloomington, described Tuesday's meeting as sometimes "acrimonious."\n"People were accusing the governor of treating them like they were naughty boys and girls being called before the high school principal to be chastised," Simpson said. "In truth, some of us have been naughty boys and girls by not taking care of the responsibilities we were elected to do."\nIt is clear some House Democrats still feel animosity toward their own party's governor for sometimes blaming lawmakers for failing to act on the budget and restructuring. Most House Democrats voted for a plan that would have raised taxes to address both issues.\n"They feel they are damned if they do and damned if they don't," Bauer said. "Some have told me maybe it's better not to raise any taxes and be with the don'ts"