(INDIANAPOLIS) — The Indiana Chamber of Commerce has released its 39th annual report scoring state legislators on how they voted on important business legislation in the recent General Assembly session. The overall marks are slightly higher than last year – ranging from 44% to 93%.
“The Legislative Vote Analysis serves as an essential guide in keeping track of Hoosier legislators to ensure they are putting forth measures that will continue the positive economic trajectory of our state and keep us atop business rankings in the Midwest and beyond,” says Indiana Chamber President and CEO Kevin Brinegar.
“It was a welcome sight to see support for small business tax relief and workforce development initiatives. However, this was the third rather challenging session in a row with a variety of new, business-hostile legislation introduced with a continued influence of the populist, anti-establishment factions in the Legislature.”
Bills included for examination in the Legislative Vote Analysis can be traced back to the Indiana Chamber’s economic development initiative, Indiana Vision 2025. The plan contains 37 goals in the four driver areas of Outstanding Talent, Attractive Business Climate, Superior Infrastructure, and Dynamic and Creative Culture.
Among the legislation included in the new report: the state budget; tax relief for pass-through entities; state pension investments and environmental social governance matters; auto-enrollment in the 21st Century Scholars program; and mandatory completion of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid for high school students.
“On a positive note, several measures with broad support in areas such as tax relief and workforce development seemed to raise the scores overall, particularly improving those among legislators with otherwise so-so support for Chamber issues,” Brinegar shares.
The document also designates the following lawmakers as “legislative champions” for their respective work on pro-business legislation in 2023: Rep. Robert Behning (R-Indianapolis); Sen. Rodric Bray (R-Martinsville); Sen. Liz Brown (R-Fort Wayne); Rep. Matt Lehman (R-Berne); Sen. Linda Rogers (R-Granger); and Rep. Craig Snow (R-Warsaw).
In total, the success or failure of 37 key pro-economy, pro-jobs policies – introduced in bills or amendments – was used to determine lawmakers’ scores, which are available on the Indiana Chamber’s web site at www.indianachamber.com/lva.
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The Indiana Chamber partners with 25,000 members and investors – representing over four million Hoosiers – to achieve the mission of “cultivating a world-class environment which provides economic opportunity and prosperity.”
