Aspire Johnson County plans to advocate for attracting talent, more equitable road funding and improving childcare affordability at the Indiana Statehouse in 2025.
The economic development organization and chamber of commerce serving Johnson County announced its legislative priorities for the 2025 Indiana General Assembly last week. The upcoming legislative session in January is a budget one, where lawmakers will craft the state’s next two-year budget.
Aspire’s legislative priorities focus on advancing policies that attract talent and investment, updating road funding formulas to ensure equitable infrastructure support and improving the availability and affordability of childcare, chamber officials said in a news release.
Workforce talent and infrastructure are “critical drivers” of business location decisions. Additionally, a strong business environment drives economic growth, job creation, and quality of life, chamber officials say.
Aspire advocates for business interests by engaging with leaders and legislators through forums and direct lobbying on key issues. Their Business Advocacy Council monitors legislation, recommends positions and sets annual priorities. Represented at the Statehouse by Torchbearer Public Affairs, a lobbyist, Aspire works to ensure pro-growth policies benefit businesses and the community, according to the chamber.
Tax policies
Aspire officials advocate for tax policies that strengthen Indiana’s ability to attract workforce talent and investment in high-demand, high-wage industries such as life sciences, technology and defense.
Indiana consistently ranks among the top states for business tax climate. However, as businesses increasingly prioritize workforce quality alongside tax advantages and infrastructure, Indiana must adapt to remain competitive, Aspire officials say.
For the last two years, state lawmakers have been reviewing Indiana’s tax code as part of planned changes. This will be a major topic this upcoming session, and Aspire officials have been following so they can ensure the issues that they and local businesses and communities care about are advocated for, said Christian Maslowski, Aspire’s president and CEO.
“When looking at the tax code in general, whatever updates and changes are made, we want to make sure that it is strategic. We want to make sure that that that changes to the tax code will strategically attract aspirational jobs and investment,” he said.
To ensure sustainable economic growth, Aspire officials say they will support evaluating the impact of state tax proposals on local tax revenue. Reduced local revenue could hinder communities’ ability to fund vital quality-of-place initiatives, which chamber officials say are essential for attracting talent and maintaining competitiveness.
Any reductions must be offset with alternative funding sources to avoid shifting the burden onto businesses, according to Aspire.
“When there is diminished tax revenue at the local level due to state tax code changes, we think it is incumbent upon the state to help identify those replacement revenue resources because we’re leaning on our local communities to provide that quality of life for top talent — quality of life being the parks, a safe community, well-funded public safety, well-funded infrastructure, well-funded community beautification, public amenities,” Maslowski said. “If we diminish local revenue, that’s that doesn’t make it very appealing for talent to want to move to our Indiana communities.”
Equitable road funding
Aspire officials are also advocating for updates to Indiana’s road funding formula to ensure “equitable support” for all road types, particularly in fast-growing communities.
“A lot of our Central Indiana mayors, including those in Johnson County, have been asking the state and advocating for a change in the road funding formula,” Maslowski said.
Current formulas base funding eligibility on road mileage, disregarding the number of lanes. As a result, a four-lane road receives the same funding as a two-lane road, creating significant challenges for communities facing increasing demands from residents, workers, and businesses, according to Aspire.
Officials say this inequity “forces” growing communities to focus on basic road maintenance while delaying critical infrastructure projects like safety enhancements, as examples.
Adequate road infrastructure is fundamental to attracting talent and businesses, Aspire officials say. Underfunding high-growth areas — responsible for Indiana’s net residential and gross domestic product growth — threatens the state’s economic competitiveness, according to Aspire.
Johnson County is one of the state’s fastest-growing counties, and if road funding comes into the county at the same rate as a rural county with a shrinking population, it doesn’t benefit neither the county nor the state, Maslowski said.
“That hurts the state because Johnson County is a big contributor to the state’s net population growth and its net GDP gain,” he said. “So what we’re saying is, ‘Hey, let’s help by helping our higher growing communities,’ and by revising this road funding formula, it will help the state.”
Locally, revising the formula could let communities like Franklin, Greenwood and Bargersville focus more on corridor safety, beautification, bike lane and pathway addition efforts, he said.
“If cities and towns can spend more of their dollars on those enhancements and those safety improvements and beautification projects, and less just on the very bare minimum, that again, is a quality of life project which helps attract and keep talent,” Maslowski said.
Child care access
Aspire’s third legislative priority is addressing the availability and affordability of early childhood education, which officials call a “persistent challenge” for working parents and a barrier to economic growth. The chamber has been advocating for this for the last few years.
“The state’s done a really terrific, terrific job over the last couple of years of being a partner in this, but we believe there’s more to be done and in so we’re hopeful that additional consideration to existing funding programs could be given,” Maslowski said.
Citing data from a recent Johnson County Community Foundation study, 68% of children with working parents in the county fall within the age group of infant to 5 years old — critical early learning and development years. However, the number of child care seats available in the county can only accommodate 32% of the young children who need care — a “huge gap” in demand, he said.
Additionally, less than half of the known child care programs in the county are designated as “high quality.” Those programs only can serve 15% of children younger than six — significantly less than the statewide rate of 30%, Maslowski said.
“So while we’re high growth, the demand for child care has not kept up in Johnson County,” he said.
Quality early childhood education not only ensures children are ready for kindergarten but also sets the foundation for long-term academic and professional success. Children who start strong are more likely to meet critical milestones, such as reading at grade level by third grade and graduating high school, according to Aspire.
Aspire plans to advocate for a focus on affordability, quality and diversity in childcare options, coupled with comprehensive data collection to guide state policy. Affordable, high-quality childcare serves as a powerful workforce recruitment tool, increasing labor participation by providing parents with stability and confidence in their childcare arrangements, chamber officials say.
Maslowski also hopes additional considerations will be given to regulation, specifically addressing “onerous administrative regulation” which doesn’t impact safety, but makes it more difficult for smaller centers to open and for capacity to increase, he said.
Looking ahead
Maslowksi is optimistic that these issues could be addressed by lawmakers during the upcoming session, set to begin on Jan. 8. There have been early indicators legislators are interested in addressing child care again, for example, and taking a “measured approach” to tax code reform, he said.
The road funding conversation has come up before, and a budget session is the perfect time to bring it up again — especially in light of lawmakers looking at the tax code, he said.
“I believe that because state revenue collections have fallen short of projections, there will be a more modest, careful review and proposals on tax code. So we’ll be watching closely,” Maslowski said.
Maslowski said Aspire has great relationships with local lawmakers and others at the Statehouse, so they will make sure to voice their concerns with them. While Aspire’s priorities were identified by their local business group, they also are aware of other chambers of commerce in the state that have also independently identified these issues as important, he said.
“I think that sends a strong message to legislators that these are top interests across the state. And it will also create a coalition of chambers and business groups who will be tracking the same issues and speaking together with a similar voice,” Maslowski said.
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