Capitol Report - Week 10 2022

March 18^th was the final date for Senate bills to be passed out of a House committee and House bills to be passed out of a Senate committee. Any bills that did not make it out of committee, with the exclusion of appropriation and ways and means bills, are no longer eligible for consideration. Following the second funnel, the House and Senate can only consider bills from the opposite chamber and bills placed on the unfinished business calendar until March 25^th.

This week, the Senate introduced a bi-partisan resolution reaffirming Iowa’s commitment to the Ukrainian people and Ukraine’s efforts to remain an independent nation. The resolution, SR 105 was adopted on March 16^th.  Additionally, House File 2331 was approved by the Senate State Government Committee on March 16^th, this bill would establish daylight savings time as the official time in Iowa. Senator R. Smith filed an amendment to the bill that would make the bill go into effect only after surrounding states adopt similar legislation. The United States Senate unanimously approved similar legislation this week, Senator Marco Rubio introduced the Sunshine Protection Act that would make daylight savings time the official time in the US.

The House passed multiple budget bills out of committee this week. House Republicans are proposing an overall FY23 budget of $8.274 billion while Senate Republicans are proposing an overall budget of $8.202 billion. With the second funnel deadline behind the legislators, the remainder of session will focus on passing the FY23 budget and remaining policy priorities.

The House also debated on the floor, passing a total of twenty-five bills over to the Senate. The Senate did not debate this week, but held a number of subcommittee and committee meetings. Governor Reynolds workforce proposal that would impact unemployment benefits and tort reform survived the second funnel by being placed on the unfinished business calendar in the Senate. Senate File 2275 is now eligible for consideration for the remainder of session. The Governor’s second workforce priority that would create a state-wide building code is also eligible as it was referred to the Ways and Means Committee in both chambers. The House will hold a second subcommittee meeting on the bill on March 21^st.

Next week: Both chambers are expected to debate bills that survived the second funnel. Any bills that do not pass both chambers by March 28^th are no longer eligible unless they are Appropriation or Ways and Means bills, have passed both chambers with differing language, or are on the unfinished business calendar. April 19^th is the 100^th day of session and the last day legislators can receive per diem for expenses.