ATLANTA – Jostling over the issue expected to be the session's headline-grabber – tax reform – could begin in earnest this week, with key committees in the House and Senate expected to take action on some of the highest profile measures.

The most sweeping proposal on the table is House Speaker Glenn Richardson's initiative to do away with the portion of local property taxes that helps fund schools and replace it with a broader statewide sales tax.

House Majority Leader Jerry Keen, R-St. Simons Island, said Friday that the House Ways and Means Committee would likely take action on "a tax bill" next week. Asked whether the measure would be the constitutional amendment floated by Richardson, R-Hiram, Keen would only reiterate that the committee would consider a tax bill.

The Senate Finance Committee, meanwhile, will consider a pair of measures that would limit the growth of property tax assessments.

The newest, introduced Friday by Finance Committee Chairman Chip Rogers, R-Woodstock, and backed by Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle, would only allow property values for tax purposes to rise by 2 percent for resident property or 3 percent for non-residential property.

Any local government wanting to opt out of the limits would have to set its own cap on assessments, create a uniform process for reassessments and get approval for the proposal in a referendum.

"People are concerned that there's no uniformity in the process, but also that there's no predictability from one year to the next," Cagle said.

Rogers said his committee would look at that proposal and one by Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson, R-Savannah, that would cap reassessments at the rate of inflation.

Senators and Cagle, who presides over the upper chamber, contend that reassessments are the most disturbing types of tax increases for Georgians because they are not directly approved by elected officials, as are mill rates.

Either an increase in the value of the property or an increase in the millage can drive up a property owner's tax bill.

Keen said the House could also take up a midyear spending bill proposed by Gov. Sonny Perdue by the end of the week.

"That's our timetable," he said. "We'll try to do that."

The governor's proposal would add $332.6 million to the budget for the state spending year that ends June 30. After that measure gains approval, lawmakers still have to address a spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Brandon Larrabee can be reached at 678-977-3709.