What is the Business Index?

The Business Index is a non-partisan rating system that scores all legislation that deals with business in Washington State. The Business Index rankings are a combination of both the bill sponsorship record, and the floor voting record of each legislator. Every bill introduced in the House and Senate during the 2009 legislative session will receive either a good, bad, or neutral rating pertaining to business issues. Rating legislation is based upon collaborative input by various business organizations.

What are the definitions of Pro Business or Anti Business Legislation?

Pro-business legislation: A piece of legislation that has a positive impact on the business community of Washington State. The bill can relate to issues such as: budget and taxes, education and workforce, regulations, infrastructure, and health care.
Anti-business legislation: A piece of legislation that has a negative effect on the health and global competitiveness of Washington’s private sector. This type of legislation has unfair implications on both the business and the businesses employees.

Part 1: Bill Sponsorship Record

Here’s how it works:

Every bill introduced is put into a category: Good bill for Washington’s private sector, Bad bill for Washington’s private sector or Neutral or no impact on Washington’s private sector.
For every pro business bill, the prime bill sponsor receives +5 points, and the co-sponsors receive +3 points.
For every anti-business bill, the prime bill sponsor receives -5 points, and the co-sponsors receive -3 points.
Every time each piece of legislation passes through the advancing stages of the legislative process, the prime and co-sponsors will get additional points added or taken away from their score depending upon whether that bill was altered. (For Example: Introduction + House Committee Vote + House Floor Vote + Senate Committee Vote + Senate Floor Vote + Governor’s Signature = Score)

Part 2: Floor Voting Record

Here’s how it works:

For final passage of bills in caucus, every legislator gets scored +1 or -1 depending whether or not the vote was in support of the business communities position on the bill.

What do Legislators’ scores mean?

A positive score means the legislator has authored/sponsored legislation that is good for Washington’s private sector.
A negative score means the legislator has authored/sponsored legislation that will hurt the health of Washington’s private sector.
If a legislator has a 0 rating, then it means they are neutral when looking at a business related bill. Likely, they do not understand what makes Washington State successful.
The points received by legislators for each bill can increase or decrease as bills they are involved with advance through the legislative process.