The Indiana Chamber of Commerce rankings highlight Senate and House lawmakers. Photo from Leslie Bonilla Muñiz, Indiana Capital Chronicle.

By Niki Kelly
Indiana Capital Chronicle

INDIANAPOLIS — From 8% to 100%, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce recently graded Indiana lawmakers on their support of major business legislation in the recent General Assembly session.

Additionally, three Small Business Champions were named: Rep. Martin Carbaugh, R-Fort Wayne; Rep. Chris Jeter, R-Fishers;  and Rep. Craig Snow, R-Warsaw.

The 41st yearly Legislator Scorecard was based on how legislators voted on 12 key “pro-economy, pro-jobs” policies. The most significant of the bills was Senate Bill 1, which reduced property taxes — including a break for businesses.

Other key bills included the topics of road funding, education deregulation, economic development, child care, energy generation, higher education and workforce development and health care costs.

“The Legislator Scorecard is a critical measure to track lawmakers’ commitment to keeping our state among the nation’s best for doing business — which also leads to increased economic growth and job opportunities,” said Indiana Chamber President and CEO Vanessa Green Sinders. “The legislation that factored into the 2025 rankings was especially important in creating a more attractive tax climate, building our talent pipeline and maintaining needed road infrastructure.”

More than 50 lawmakers earned a perfect mark — all Republicans who generally align with the right-leaning Chamber of Commerce.

Many Republicans were in the 90 percentile, including Fort Wayne Sen. Liz Brown who scored 91%. Her four-year average is 89%. She has recently been targeted as being too liberal and faces a primary fight in 2026 against Allen County school board member Darren Vogt. He is backed by Republican U.S. Sen. Jim Banks.

There were a number of Republicans below 80%. They include Rep. Craig Haggard at 62%; Rep. Matt Hostettler at 75%; Rep. Andrew Ireland at 50%; Rep. Lorissa Sweet at 70%; Rep. Ethan Manning at 75%; Sen. Eric Bassler at 64%; Sen. Vaneta Becker at 42%; Sen. Gary Byrne at 62%; Sen. Spencer Deery at 69%; Sen. Dan Dernulc at 54%; Sen. Aaron Freeman at 54%; Sen. Tyler Johnson at 62%; Sen. Jean Leising; Sen. Jim Tomes at 46%; Sen. Michael Young at 42% and Sen. Andy Zay at 38%.

Some common bills that cost these lawmakers were ‘no’ votes on road funding and property tax relief.

The lower scores largely were assigned to Democrats, though the worst grade went to GOP Indianapolis Sen. Mike Bohacek.

Other Awards

Seven policymakers also were further selected as an Indiana Chamber Legislative Champion, Small Business Champion or Champion Freshman Legislator.

The Legislative Champions are Rep. Jim Pressel, R-Rolling Prairie, and Rep. Jake Teshka, R-North Liberty, for their respective work on pro-business legislation in 2025, namely on the topics of road funding and taxation, respectively.

The Indiana Chamber also honored Rep. Wendy Dant Chesser, D-Jeffersonville, and Rep. Danny Lopez, R-Carmel, as Champion Freshman Legislators for their impacts on boosting entrepreneurship and economic development.

The Legislator Scorecard, formerly Legislative Vote Analysis, is produced annually after the legislative session, the news released said. Lawmakers are kept apprised of the Indiana Chamber position and reasoning on these bills 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 vote calculations.