For the 2005 legislative session, the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry resolved to clarify what it means to be a “pro-business” political leader. Our board of directors adopted a broad-based and ambitious policy agenda featuring four consensus issues uniting businesses across the state regardless of size or sector.

Chief among our “Jobs Agenda” priorities was business property tax relief. Arizona’s private sector employers labor under one of the most complicated and heavy property tax burdens in the nation.

Tucson Rep. Steve Huffman and Phoenix Senator Dean Martin did the hard work of convincing their colleagues that cutting business’ assessment ratio by 20 per cent was not only economically smart but politically safe.

With the support of 49 business organizations, including 35 chambers of commerce, representing more than 50,000 Arizona businesses, Senate President Ken Bennett and House Speaker Jim Weiers built on their colleagues’ efforts and forged a resilient legislative coalition that withstood divide-and-conquer tactics to deliver business’ number one legislative priority (H2779).

Both Governor Napolitano and legislative leadership earn praise for keeping business property tax relief from becoming tangled in partisan warfare.

The governor and legislators also deserve thanks for putting Arizona in the best possible position to attract high-wage, capital-intensive industry by enacting corporate sales factor reform (H2139) and the ‘angel’ investor credit (S1335).

Moreover, they delivered on business’ second priority, responsible budgeting. Speaker Weiers and President Bennett were able to negotiate a budget with the governor that contains no borrowing and remedies some of the most egregious fund sweeps from past years, those impacting job training funds and groundwater cleanup (WQARF).

Lawmakers also made progress on the business community’s third legislative priority, education accountability. In addition to facilitating school district unification (S1068), they worked with the governor and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne to create the IDEAL program, an effective, user-friendly data system to track the progress of students and the quality of K-12 education in Arizona.

Our fourth priority centered on getting a handle on the hidden tax every Arizonan pays due to lawsuit abuse. Skyrocketing insurance costs are driving good doctors from certain critical specialties and markets, especially in rural Arizona.

Lawmakers took a strong first step this session toward medical malpractice reform (S1036). Though much more work is needed, the business community is now fully engaged and ready to hold lawmakers and legislative candidates to a higher standard on the issue of litigation reform.

On the business community’s top four legislative priorities, we made substantial gains in all four areas.

By any measure, the 2005 legislative session was the most pro-business session in a generation.

With these successes achieved, the business community is encouraged to be bold in advancing free market policies while welcoming the responsibility to clarify what “pro-business” means in Arizona politics.

Scott Peterson is senior vice president of public affairs for the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry, formerly called the Arizona Chamber of Commerce.