The legislature met their second legislative funnel deadline this week. This means that policy bills that did not receive floor approval in their originating chamber and advance through committee in the opposite chamber are ‘dead’ and not eligible for further consideration. There are exceptions to the funnel for Ways and Means, Appropriations, and Leadership bills. Additionally, chamber rules allow for procedural exceptions such as placing bills on the Unfinished Business calendar, which allow for bills to remain eligible for consideration beyond the funnel. 

Dead or Alive?

A handful of priority bills, including proposals from Governor Kim Reynolds on private school scholarships (SF2369) and workforce (HF2279) (which includes unemployment and tort reform), did not meet the legislative funnel benchmark.

“We’re still in the process of trying to find compromises and trying to work things through the process… I’ve made some moves to different committees to keep things alive and keep the conversations going,” House Speaker Pat Grassley said Thursday. Lawmakers have several options to resurrect a bill if it does not meet a funnel deadline, including adding policy to other bills via amendment or include policy in budget proposals.

On Wednesday evening after a motion to consider failed on the House floor that would have amended provisions of the Governor’s workforce bill onto a Senate bill being considered by the House, the bill was ultimately deferred on. Reynolds told reporters Wednesday there were still several options to pass her tort reform and unemployment proposal. “We’re looking at different ways to get something across the finish line. If it gets pulled, we’ll figure out another place to put the bill.”

Filing Deadline for the June Primary–Statewide Offices

The deadline for filing for the June primary is today, March 18. Deidre DeJear officially filed to run for the Democratic nomination for Governor on Tuesday of this week. Governor Reynolds announced her reelection for Governor and officially filed last week.

Below, find a chart identifying candidates that have filed their paperwork with the Secretary of State as of the morning of Friday, March 18. Candidates have until 5pm tonight to file with the Secretary of State.

Filing Deadline for the June Primary–Statehouse

The deadline for filing for the June primary is today, March 18. Redistricting makes this election year particularly interesting, as many elected officials (higher than average) announce that they are retiring or plan to seek another elected office.

All House seats are up for election in November (House seats are up for election every two years).  Typically, when two sitting House members wind up in the same district, one will move to another district, announce their retirement, or seek another elected office. Currently, there are a few districts where current sitting House members will be facing off in a primary:

• New House District 53 Republican Representatives Dean Fisher and David Maxwell have both filed to run
• New House District 66 Republican Representatives Steven Bradley and Lee Hein have both filed to run
• New House District 87 Republican Representatives Jeff Shipley and Joe Mitchell have both filed to run

The Senate primary process post-redistricting is more complicated. Senators are elected to four-year terms and half of the Senate is up for election every two years, either the even-numbered districts or the odd-numbered districts. Redistricting impacts this staggered election year cycle by occurring just two years after an election for half of the seats in the Senate by changing the boundaries and numbering of the Senate districts. In the redistricting process, districts are drawn without regard to where incumbents live (following the Constitution and statutory process for redistricting); but then the districts are numbered with an effort to put Senators who are in the middle of a four-year term into a holdover district. Iowa law provides that certain senate incumbents shall be allowed to continue serving for a four-year term without being subject to an election during the first general election following redistricting. However, in no event will an incumbent senator be allowed to serve a six-year term without an intervening election.

In 2022, odd-numbered Senate districts are up for election. Even-numbered districts are up for election if:

• Two incumbents live in the same district
• The district is open (no incumbents live within the new boundaries)
• The incumbent in the district is at the end of a four-year term

All Senators who ran and were elected in 2018 must run again, regardless of their district (even/odd). A Senator who was elected in 2020 can holdover in an even-numbered district who two incumbents if the other incumbent moves, announce their retirement (by the third Wednesday in February), or seek another elected office.

As of today, nine even-numbered seats will be up for re-election in 2022 along with the 25 odd-numbered seats.

Below, find charts that identify candidates that have filed their candidate paperwork with the Secretary of State as of the morning of Friday, March 18. Candidates have until 5pm tonight to file with the Secretary of State.

Senate Candidates

House Candidates

What’s Next?

With just over four weeks (less than 20 legislative workdays) until the 100th scheduled day of session, when the legislative per diem ends, the push to adjournment has begun in earnest. In that time, the chambers must reach an agreement on several priority legislative proposals, including:

• Renewable Fuels (HF2128)
• Workforce (Unemployment/Tort Reform) (HF2279/SF2275)
• Education Choice (SF2369)
• School Transparency (Curriculum/Library Books) (SF2364 and SF2205)
• Bottle Bill Changes (SF2122)
• Medical Freedom/Covid-19 Immunization Status Ban (HF2545)

The legislature will also have to approve the budget for the state for fiscal year 2023. The Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver made the following statement about the progress of the 2022 session:

“We feel like in the Senate, we’re in a really good spot. We got a huge priority done early in session with the ($1.9 billion state income tax cuts) bill, which was our No. 1 priority. All the governor’s priorities are still alive. … We felt like we’ve got our business done early, we’re in a good shape, and we’re looking forward to finishing the session stronger.”