Legislative ROI
Your 2026 Legislative Return on Investment
The Indiana Chamber’s lobbying efforts at the Statehouse greatly impact your bottom line. In 2026, the Chamber’s work yielded savings of $1.98 billion for Hoosier businesses OR $697 per employee.
As always, the Chamber advocated for and achieved public policy victories that will have a lasting positive impact on the state’s economy and residents. During this constitutionally short, non-budget session, the Chamber supported legislation advancing tax conformity, childcare access, work-based learning, housing supply, environmental permitting modernization and township government reform. The Chamber also helped defeat proposals that would have added regulatory uncertainty, compliance costs and operational burdens for Hoosier employers.
Specific savings are listed below by bill and subject matter, in total and per employee.
Business Savings
$1.98 billion or $697 per employee
TAX AND PUBLIC FINANCE
SB 243: Tax conformity with the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA); state deductions for qualified tips, overtime and auto loan interest; tax amnesty, electronic notices, tax warrant streamlining and other administrative modernization. (~$226.3 million; ~$79.71/employee)
SB 212: Targeted state Internal Revenue Code conformity covering adoption credit, accelerated cost recovery and telehealth high-deductible health plan safe harbor. (~$1.3 million; ~$0.46/employee)
HB 1177: Modernizes and expands the employer childcare expenditure tax credit. (Up to $2.5 million annually; ~$0.88/employee)
SB 4: Flexible deployment of the Financial Responsibility and Opportunity Growth (FROG) Fund to support the Child Care and Development Fund voucher program and workforce participation. (Up to $300 million biennial impact; ~$105.66/employee)
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
HB 1098: Work-based learning liability clarification reducing employer participation barriers in student work-based learning programs. (Estimated workforce participation and talent pipeline impact: ~$50 million; ~$17.61/employee)
HB 1152: Expands access to in-home child care and small-scale home-based entrepreneurship by limiting restrictive homeowners-association prohibitions. (Estimated workforce participation impact: ~$40 million; ~$14.09/employee)
HB 1195: Extends the Indiana High School Equivalency Pilot Program and expands workforce-entry pathways. (Estimated workforce development impact: ~$25 million; ~$8.81/employee)
SB 162: Department of Workforce Development modernization and preservation of Indiana employer eligibility for the federal FUTA tax credit. (Estimated avoided employer payroll tax exposure: ~$35 million; ~$12.33/employee)
SB 254: Strengthens Ivy Tech Community College alignment with employer workforce needs and education-to-employment data coordination. (Estimated long-term workforce alignment impact: ~$75 million; ~$26.42/employee)
INFRASTRUCTURE AND ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS
HB 1001: Housing access and permitting reform: limits local fee escalation on building permits, requires permit-fee refunds for missed statutory deadlines, restricts certain building-code add-ons, updates the Storm Water Quality Manual and streamlines portions of local permitting and zoning processes. (Estimated statewide housing, permitting and development impact: ~$750 million; ~$264.16/employee)
SB 27: Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority and Stadium Board supporting regional development, tourism and private investment activity. (Estimated regional economic development impact: ~$50 million; ~$17.61/employee)
SB 270: Township government modernization and consolidation framework reducing duplicative local administrative overhead. (Estimated long-term taxpayer & local government efficiency impact: ~$25 million; ~$8.81/employee)
BUSINESS LAW AND REGULATORY CLIMATE
SB 226: Indiana Department of Administration procurement modernization and category management reforms. (~$2.2 million annual state savings; ~$0.77/employee)
HB 1242: Consolidated statewide school operational and academic reporting transparency improving workforce and site-selection data availability. (Estimated economic competitiveness impact: ~$20 million; ~$7.04/employee)
SB 282: Registration and oversight standards for compounding pharmacies and medical spas creating clearer operating standards for healthcare-adjacent employers. (Estimated regulatory certainty impact: ~$15 million; ~$5.28/employee)
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
SB 277: IDEM permitting and regulatory modernization; streamlines permitting, restructures rulemaking and reduces reliance on non-promulgated guidance. (Estimated regulatory modernization and permitting impact: ~$350 million; ~$123.28/employee)
Defeated — SB 7: Carbon sequestration proposal creating additional county-level approval requirements for interstate or inter-county carbon capture projects. (Estimated avoided project-delay and regulatory uncertainty impact: ~$200 million; ~$70.44/employee)
OTHER COSTS AVOIDED
Defeated — SB 219: Uniform Antitrust Pre-Merger Notification Act creating duplicative state-level merger filing requirements and civil penalties. (Estimated avoided compliance and legal cost exposure: ~$15 million; ~$5.28/employee)
Defeated — HB 1137: Foods and beverages on school property restrictions impacting vendor and supply-chain operations. (Estimated avoided supply-chain and vendor disruption costs: ~$10 million; ~$3.52/employee)
Total Estimated Business and Economic Impact: ~$1.98 billion
Total Estimated Impact Per Employee: ~$697
10 employees = impact of ~$6,970
25 employees = impact of ~$17,425
50 employees = impact of ~$34,850
100 employees = impact of ~$69,700
200 employees = impact of ~$139,400
500 employees = impact of ~$348,500
IMPORTANT NOTES: Business and economic impact calculations are based on Indiana Legislative Services Agency fiscal impact statements, state budget appropriations, independent studies, workforce participation research, housing and permitting economic analyses, Indiana Chamber policy analysis and other available economic research materials.
Several figures above represent Chamber-modeled economic impact estimates rather than direct state fiscal savings. These modeled estimates reflect the projected economic effect of reduced permitting delays, expanded workforce participation, regulatory modernization, avoided compliance costs and improved economic competitiveness resulting from enacted legislation or defeated proposals.
Per-employee impact calculations are based on Indiana Department of Workforce Development estimates of approximately 2.84 million private-sector employees statewide in March 2026.
