Preparing for Funnel Week

After five busy weeks at the Capitol, we’re now coming up at the point during session when legislation begins to narrow down somewhat. Next week is the first legislative Funnel. For you veterans of the bill tracking process, this is old hat, but for those of you newer to the legislative process, here’s a quick breakdown.

What the First Legislative Funnel Means

After five busy weeks at the Capitol, we’re now coming up at the point during session when legislation begins to narrow down somewhat. Next week is the first legislative Funnel. For you veterans of the bill tracking process, this is old hat, but for those of you newer to the legislative process, here’s a quick breakdown.

Each legislative session has two built-in Funnel Weeks. These are self-imposed deadlines designed to shrink the pile of bills up for consideration during a given year. We don’t have year-round legislative sessions in Iowa, so the idea behind the funnels is to keep lawmakers focused on the legislation that really matters to our constituents and limit the time we spend on silly flights of fancy like stealing counties from Illinois.

Key Deadline to Watch

The first Funnel Week deadline is next Friday, Feb. 20. By this date, policy bills introduced in the Senate need to have advanced through a Senate committee in order to still be eligible for consideration for the rest of session. The same is true for the lower chamber: House bills need to have advanced through House committees. There are some exceptions to these deadlines, like bills dealing with taxes or appropriations.

So, by the end of next Friday, if a Senate bill you were tracking never passed a vote in its assigned Senate committee, that bill should be considered dead for the year. You can always see where any bill is at during the process on the Legislature’s website. Here’s an example of what to look for (you can find the Bill History on the left-hand side of the screen when viewing any specific bill on the Legislature’s website.

What Happens Next

Unfortunately, many Senate Democratic bills fail to advance past the first funnel deadline – the majority party often refuses to even give Democrat-sponsored bills a subcommittee hearing. But that doesn’t mean that everything that advances is bad. There are always some good, bipartisan bills still in the mix.

Once we’re through the first funnel, I’ll give you an update on what’s still alive, what isn’t, and what comes next.