Iowa

On Monday, October 7, 2019, the Iowa House Republicans held leadership elections triggered by Rep. Linda Upmeyer's announcement that she would step down as Speaker and not seek re-election in 2020.

Effective July 1, 2019, injuries in the workplace from idiopathic and unexplained falls will be subject to a new law.

After a number of long days and late nights, the First Session of the 88th General Assembly of Iowa adjourned sine die on Saturday, April 27, 2019-the 105th day of session, five days ahead of the scheduled adjournment date.

At the close of Week 14, with 2 weeks left until the scheduled adjournment date of May 3rd, both House and Senate Majority Leadership teams are signaling that the session is nearly complete.

Budget bills and confirmations were the focus of activity this week at the Capitol.

With the end of week 12 came the end of the second funnel and the last chance for many policy bills to continue being considered this session.

Week 11 brought a balanced amount of floor and committee work, with a pause on Wednesday for two special recognitions.

Three weeks out from the second funnel deadline, both the House and Senate continued to work through bills on their calendars.

This week was the first of four weeks between the funnels. Most effort right now is dedicated to getting bills passed by one chamber so the other chamber can begin committee work.

This week was the first funnel week of the session. If at the end of this week a bill had not passed out of a committee in either chamber, that bill would no longer be eligible for debate this session and would be regarded as "dead." This funnel does not apply to appropriations or ways and means bills.

This week, the focus remained on passing bills out of subcommittees and committees. Next week is "funnel week." Friday, March 8 is the deadline for House bills to pass out of House Committees and Senate bills to pass out of Senate Committees. Appropriations and tax bills are not subject to funnel deadlines however.

With two weeks left to go before the first legislative funnel, progress was made on both the policy and appropriations fronts. Floor work is heating up in both chambers, peppered between committee work.