It’s been over a week since the first funnel week for both the Iowa Senate and House .

District 12 Senator Amy Sinclair says the first funnel was a very busy time during session, because of the hundreds of bills that are introduced each year. She tells Raccoon Valley Radio how they work through the large number of bills.

“We have 150 legislators, all of whom have a right to file bills that make sense for the people they represent in their communities. And so we have to take all of those bills that all 150 folks file, and in the Senate that’s 50 folks, and we have to distill those down into the ones that we want to focus on. And so all of the subcommittees were taking place and the committee work happened last week, which really made for a busy time for a lot of the legislators. Just trying to see what they could get through to still continue to have a conversation and what had to be left behind because it wasn’t reflective of where we’re trying to take the state or we just didn’t have time to make it happen this year because it was too complicated or complex.”

Sinclair adds that there’s always a little bit of franticness in subcommittees as they try to decide which bills should be pursued, or are too important to leave behind. She mentions that her bill to adopt a Gadsden Flag license plate was one that will have to be brought back during a different session.