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Indiana Chamber Scores State Legislators On 2018 Voting Records

Last updated on Thursday, June 14, 2018

(INDIANAPOLIS) - Each year, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce holds state lawmakers accountable for their voting records on pro-jobs, pro-economy legislation.

Today, the 2018 results were revealed in the organization's annual Legislative Vote Analysis, with voting scores ranging from 47% to 100%.

"Employers and citizens alike should seek to have a clear, objective understanding of how their legislators vote on vital issues and in turn, how that impacts their individual prosperity," states Indiana Chamber President Kevin Brinegar.

"This report makes evident which lawmakers were supportive of bettering Indiana's economic climate and which were not."

Bills included for examination in the Legislative Vote Analysis can be traced back to the Indiana Chamber's economic development plan, Indiana Vision 2025 (www.indianachamber.com/2025). The plan contains 36 goals in the four driver areas of Outstanding Talent, Attractive Business Climate, Superior Infrastructure, and Dynamic and Creative Culture.

Among the bills included in the report are: enhanced water resource management (courtesy a taskforce), a computer science course offering in all schools, better alignment of the state's various education and workforce programs, as well as tax clarity for the software-as-a-service industry and reconciling the state tax code with the federal one in wake of the new tax law.

Brinegar acknowledges these are important wins, and all are Indiana Chamber priorities, but stresses that more work needs to be done in several key areas. Specifically, two Indiana Chamber priorities are not included in this analysis because no floor votes were taken due to leadership decisions. Those were measures to raise the smoking age from 18 to 21 and township reform for the smallest townships in the state.

"For this exercise, it means that two critical pieces of legislation never came into play, so 'tough votes' weren't taken and overall vote scores are higher as a result," Brinegar offers.

All scores and the full report are available at the Indiana Chamber's web site at www.indianachamber.com/lva.

Legislators who score 70% or greater for the most recent four-year voting period are eligible for endorsement consideration by the Indiana Chamber's political action committee, Indiana Business for Responsive Government.

Lawmakers are notified of the Indiana Chamber position and reasoning on the bills in this report through various communications during the legislative session - and prior to key votes being taken. Only floor votes for which there is a public record are used in the Legislative Vote Analysis.

The Legislative Vote Analysis is distributed electronically to all legislators and Indiana Chamber board members, and made available online for all businesspersons, community leaders and citizens.

This marks the 34th year the Indiana Chamber has measured state legislators' voting performance on bills that reflect the organization's public policy positions.

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