When lawmakers meet in the Iowa Capitol each year they have deadlines to keep the session moving along. 

Iowa State Senator for District 10 Jake Chapman says due to the short amount of time legislators have to get things done, they go through the process called a funnel week. Chapman explains the process a bill needs to complete before the first funnel week.

“Bills that originate in the Senate need to go through the Senate committees, those bills that originate in the House need to go through the House committees. If they don’t make it through the committee then they are deemed dead for the session.”

Chapman tells Raccoon Valley Radio bills that didn’t make it through the first funnel can still come back in the form of amendments to other bills among other things. Chapman talks about the process after the first funnel week.

“This next phase after the funnel, we will start really honing in on debate. So, these next couple of weeks will be focused on debate on the full floor of the Senate and the House will also be focusing on debate.”

Chapman says there are multiple funnel weeks throughout the legislative session with another coming up in three to four weeks.