The good news just keeps coming in. Indiana enters February of 2012 as the 23rd state to pass right-to-work legislation. Aside from what it means for Hoosier workers who now have the right to choose whether or not to financially support a labor union, it also means that more companies looking to expand or relocate their business to a state of higher profits will finally get to see how Indiana stacks up against other right-to-work states.
The reason I'm so excited about this new legislation is because Indiana has one of the best business environments anywhere, and when we get the chance to compete for new business, companies choose Indiana about 60 percent of the time. Before right-to-work, we missed opportunities to present our assets to companies which expressed a strong preference for Indiana, but would only operate in right-to-work states. But that all changed this month, when the governor made it official with his signature that Indiana is not only serious about competing for America's business, but Indiana is a serious contender for winning that business.
Actually, we were a serious contender even before right-to-work, but now we get to step into the ring and go toe-to-toe with states that never had to worry about being matched against us before our status changed. Are those other states nervous about competing with us? I don't know, but if they aren't, they should be. While they've been out sparring with the same opponents, year-in and year-out, we've been training non-stop for this opportunity, and I'm pretty sure our record speaks for itself.