WHITVER: First 'Funnel Week' Complete, Iowa Senate Reaches Halfway Point of 2013 Session

One of the most important weeks of the legislative session is "funnel week." Funnel week is the first big hurdle for any piece of legislation and is a good legislative tool to focus the priorities for the session. 

At the beginning of the session, all 150 legislators submit bills ideas. These ideas come from constituents, interest groups, friends and neighbors. Some of the ideas are good ideas and some are frankly, crazy. However, the legislative process is designed to weed out the good ideas from the bad ones. 

Funnel week is important because a bill must be voted out of a subcommittee (3 members) and the full committee (11-21 members) in order to be alive for the rest of the session. In other words, if the submitted bill did not get out of committee in either the House or the Senate by the end of the week, it will not pass this year (with a few exceptions).

A bill that did get out of a committee in either the House or the Senate continues to stay alive and will then move to the opposite chamber. Over the next few weeks, the opposite chamber will consider the bill and either move it forward or let it die. 

This session has been the slowest session since I was elected in 2011. I believe there will be the lowest amount of bills signed by the Governor that we have had in many years. That is not always a bad thing as many times we pass laws that are not necessary. With an Iowa Code that fills six large books, we continue to expand government over the years. I prefer to pass fewer bills but make sure they are effective and good policy.

As of today, the 2013 session is halfway complete. Now that the first funnel week is behind us, I would expect we will see a lot more floor action next week. In addition, the appropriation process will begin to move forward to try to settle on a final budget.

Session is scheduled to finish on May 3rd this year. I remain hopeful that we can complete our work on time, although a lot of work is left to be done before we are finished. Currently Republicans and Democrats are almost $500 million apart on their spending proposals, so it may take awhile to come to an agreement. I am willing to stay in session as long as it takes to make sure we keep spending under control.

As always, feel free to contact me at jack@jackwhitver.com.