Thank you to Rep. Mike Sexton for the easy to understand explanation of the bill movement process.

“Friday, Feb. 14, was the last day individual Representatives and Senators are able to have a bill drafted. This keeps us from just keep having bills drafted one after another which will never end and keep us from ever getting done. March 7 is the first funnel date, which is quickly approaching. This means there is a time crunch for bills that are still in committees to get passed — this is the same for the Senate and the House. Most committees will only meet once a week. So there are only so many meetings left to get bills out of committee. The first funnel date is to weed out bills that have little support so we can focus our attention on priority bills to keep them moving through the legislative process. Bills must pass out of their standing committee by the funnel date in order for them to stay alive and be eligible for debate on the House floor. The funnel date acts as a deadline for passing bills out of committee which keeps the legislative process moving efficiently (well, as efficient as state government can be) here at the Capitol. In order for a bill to stay alive, it must make it out of the standing committees that it has been assigned to in either the House or the Senate. If a bill fails to pass out of its standing committee, this means it is dead or ineligible for floor debate for this session and will have to wait until next year. So, you have a situation where legislators are working very hard to get bills out of committee and on the other side you have legislators that are working very hard to keep bills from passing out of committee. As you can imagine, with long hours and the stress of the job, emotions run higher than usual during funnel week which can lead to a few confrontations, not only between the two parties but even among members of the same party. Because funnel week is rapidly approaching, I’ve been working very hard to get bills passed out of committees that I believe are good for Iowa. The Second Funnel is April 4, which follows the same process. However, bills that started in the House must be passed out of a Senate Committee and bills that started in the Senate have to passed out of a House Committee. Bills that do not get passed are now dead. This is the step the creates a lot of friction between the House and Senate. If one side decides not to pass something that was important to the other side, then this starts a chain reaction that can get really get ugly. Which I have seen happen many times in my legislative career. More times than not, a good piece of legislation can die in this power struggle between the House and Senate.”

On Tuesday, the Iowa Senate passed SF 278 to support students on robotics teams. This bill helps provide more resources and technical assistance to school districts starting career and technical student organizations related to robotics by allowing them to access federal funding for their teams. Senate File 278 is another great step in ensuring Iowa students are given every opportunity to pursue their passion in the classroom. Programs like robotics teams help students gain both real-world knowledge and skills that can translate to a career in the field of study they choose. For robotics, this is especially critical as a technology-dependent field requiring constant innovation that needs highly skilled people willing to work and adapt in an ever-changing environment. Senate Republicans are proud to support our students interested in robotics and we look forward to the success they will have in the future.

The Senate Education Committee this week passed SSB 1065. Making sure this issue is to our local school board. This bill requires, starting with the next school year, each school board adopt policies regarding the student use of personal electronic devices during school hours and restrict use of such devices during classroom instructional time. With cell phones becoming an increasing distraction to students, it is crucial we take initiative to create a classroom setting fit for focusing on learning. According to a Gallup survey in October 2023, 51 percent of US teenagers reported spending at least 4 hours a day on social media. Based on a report from Gallup and the Institute for Family Studies, “Teens who spend more than 5 hours a day on social media were 2.5 times more likely to express suicidal thoughts or harm themselves, 2.4 times more likely to hold a negative view of their body, and 40 percent more likely to report a lot of sadness the day before.” By placing restrictions on the cell phone usage of students, we can not only help ensure a quality learning environment, but also help reduce the fatigue and unintended consequences that come with overuse of cellphones. Senate Republicans will continue to work to provide the best education possible to our students, and creating an environment free from the distraction of cellphones is critical to the success of our youth both inside and outside of the classroom.

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Contact Annette Sweeney at

annette.sweeney@legis.iowa.gov