What is Iowa’s legislative ‘funnel’ and how does it work? (2026)
What is Iowa’s legislative ‘funnel’ and how does it work? (2026)
Iowa’s legislative funnel deadline has done its job again, winnowing the list of bills that could still become law this session.
Among the casualties: bills that would have allowed community colleges to offer some four-year degrees, eliminated all school vaccination requirements and restricted access to medication abortion.
Other significant bills remain in play, including legislation restricting the governor’s emergency powers, allowing Iowans to buy ivermectin over the counter without a prescription and limiting tuition increases at Iowa’s public universities.
Gov. Kim Reynolds has already signed into law this session a measure barring local governments from having policies protecting against gender identity-based discrimination.
However, Republicans, who control the Iowa House and Senate, have yet to strike deals on two of the top issues of the legislative session: property tax relief and eminent domain restrictions.
“There are some heavy lifts obviously,” Senate Majority Leader Mike Klimesh, R-Spillville, told reporters. “Property taxes, eminent domain conversation, and budgeting, you know, those things come up in the end of session.”
But he said Republicans are taking steps toward resolving their differences on property taxes and eminent domain.
On the budget, Klimesh said the recent meeting of the state’s Revenue Estimating Conference has provided lawmakers with the estimates they need to “start the process of winding this show up.”
House Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, said “there seems to be a lot of work to be done in the next few weeks.”
“We’ve got property taxes, which I don’t think they’re close on,” he said. “You’ve got eminent domain — I know they’re not close on — and then you have a budget. We don’t even have targets down for the budgets yet.”
Meyer said Democrats plan to force floor votes on their priorities that never got consideration, including paid family leave and raising the state’s minimum wage.
Here’s where major pieces of Iowa legislation stand after the second funnel deadline, which required bills to have passed one chamber and be approved by a committee in the opposite chamber by March 20.
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Bills still alive
State funding for public charter schools would be brought in line with the money public schools receive, under a bill Reynolds proposed. It would clear the way for charter students to attend public school for drivers education courses, take part in public school athletic programs and do their course work at their resident public school districts. House File 2699/Senate File 2406.
The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners and school districts would face more stringent requirements for applicants to show evidence of lawful U.S. citizenship to obtain a professional license or be employed. The proposal comes in the wake of former Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent Ian Roberts’ high-profile immigration arrest. Senate File 2218.
Reynolds’ bill would require K-12 schools, public universities and community colleges to issue an annual report about antisemitism incidents on campus. Schools would also be required to “prohibit antisemitism” and treat harassment or discrimination motivated by antisemitic intent the same as other forms of discrimination.
The legislation codifies an executive order Reynolds issued last year. House File 2544/Senate File 2336.
The Iowa Board of Regents would have to direct each of the three public universities to set a tuition “guarantee” policy. The tuition rate charged in a resident undergraduate student’s first year would be guaranteed and could not increase for the next three school years.
Students would have to pay a fee to opt-in to this program. House File 2362/Senate File 2227.
The identities of candidates a search committee considers to select a president at Iowa’s three public universities could stay confidential until Board of Regents members on the search panel vote to release the names. House File 2245/Senate File 2359.
The Board of Regents would have to include one three-credit introductory American history course and a three-credit American government course in each public university’s general education curriculum.
Each university’s civics centers also would be required to create an ongoing lecture and debate series that would “promote civil dialogue and debate on the issues most important to the American republic.” House File 2361/Senate File 2232.
Protecting K-12 student free speech
Schools would be barred from discriminating against or penalizing students for engaging in “religious, political or ideological speech, or expressing a religious, political or ideological viewpoint” under this bill doubling down on First Amendment rights.
The bill states it should not be construed as preventing schools from prohibiting or limiting expression that is not constitutionally protected. Senate File 2300/House File 2336.
Bills that died
Educators would have had their licenses immediately revoked for cheering political violence under a bill spurred by public educators’ social media posts celebrating Kirk’s assassination in September.
It also would have allowed school boards to extend the school calendar by one day for each day there’s a student protest. House File 2512.
Republicans failed to find agreement on bills that would have placed restrictions on libraries to prevent children from accessing books that contain sexual content.
- One measure would have prevented schools from entering into agreements with public libraries or bookmobiles that allow students to use their school identification to check out books and other materials. House File 2324
- Another would have transferred all oversight of libraries from library boards to city councils. It would have barred libraries from receiving state funding through the Enrich Iowa program if they did not adopt policies that prohibit minors from accessing books that describe or depict sex acts. House File 2622
Iowa lawmakers will not end the state’s decades-old school vaccination requirements.
The House never voted on a bill that said students would no longer have to be vaccinated for diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, polio, measles, rubella and chickenpox before attending school. House File 2171.
Iowa’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law will not be expanded to block public K-12 schools from teaching students about sexual orientation and gender identity at all grade levels.
The existing law limits instruction on LGBTQ-related topics only through sixth grade and is tied up in federal court. House File 2338.
Lawmakers never voted on a House bill that would have allowed adults picking up or dropping off children from school or making deliveries to bring loaded guns with them in their vehicles. The bill would have required vehicles to remain locked with the gun inside if the driver left the car to go into the school.
The bill also would have allowed school districts to authorize people, including bus drivers, to carry firearms while driving or riding with students in a school vehicle. And it would have allowed retired law enforcement officers to carry guns on school grounds. House File 621.
The Senate did not advance a bill passed by the Iowa House requiring Iowa’s public universities to freeze tuition at current levels for five years, instead keeping the separate tuition guarantee proposal alive.
It would have frozen tuition at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa through July 1, 2031. House File 2242.
A bill failed to advance allowing Iowa’s public universities governed by the Board of Regents to admit students based on merit and the likelihood they stay in the state, if they don’t qualify for admission based on the regent admission index.
The index combines ACT or SAT test scores, high school grade-point average and number of completed core classes. House File 2339.
Senators did not advance a House bill allowing Iowa’s community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees in high-demand workforce areas, such as health care, advanced manufacturing and skilled trades.
Community colleges may not confer more than an associate’s degree under current law. House File 2649.
The Senate did not take up a House bill that would have barred private colleges from receiving Iowa Tuition Grant dollars if they maintain diversity, equity and inclusion offices. House File 2488.
Bills still alive
A House bill would abolish a 10-day limit on subacute care, preventing managed care organizations from discharging patients until the mental health professional supervising their treatment determines proper supports are in place. House File 2543.
A separate Senate bill also eliminates the 10-day cap, allowing the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services to adopt a rule permitting longer stays. It outlines a timeline that managed care organizations must follow to grant prior authorization based on the urgency of an individual’s case ranging from 48 hours to 10 days after a mental health provider submits a request. Senate File 2202.
The governor’s proposal would require Iowa to continue seeking a federal waiver to prevent Iowans from using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) dollars to buy unhealthy foods such as pop or candy.
The bill would also allow Iowans to buy ivermectin over the counter without a prescription and ban certain food dyes from school meals and drinks.
The proposal originally included an increased tax on cigarettes and tobacco products, but House Republicans removed that portion. House File 2676.
Early childhood system overhaul
The governing system for early childhood programs would see changes under this bill. It would keep 34 local Early Childhood areas and the Early Childhood Iowa state board intact.
The bill would transition funds for home visitation services to Iowa HHS control to better draw down federal funds. Early childhood officials have widely opposed the bill, saying it strips local control. House File 2712/Senate File 2462.
Changing ‘pregnant person’ to ‘pregnant female’
Terminology describing a “pregnant person” would be changed to “pregnant female” across Iowa laws, including sections outlining penalties for the felonies of feticide after the second trimester, the nonconsensual termination of or serious injury to a pregnancy and assault against someone who is pregnant. House File 2253.
Bills that died
Lawmakers did not pass a bill restricting access to medication abortions. It would have required patients to see a doctor and undergo an exam before they could receive abortion medications. The bill was aimed at limiting telehealth and mail-order prescriptions of drugs such as mifepristone, which have come under intense scrutiny by anti-abortion advocates and lawmakers across the country.
Physicians would also have had to inform patients about the possibility of abortion reversals — a concept that medical professionals say science doesn’t support. House File 2563.
Bills still alive
One of Iowa’s biggest economic development programs, the MEGA program, would be expanded to provide financial incentives for a National Football League team to build a stadium in Iowa.
The move is part of an attempt to lure the Chicago Bears team, which is negotiating a stadium project to move from the historic 100-year-old Soldier Field in downtown Chicago. Senate File 2373.
Pipeline companies could talk to landowners up to five miles on either side of the route approved by state regulators, allowing them to alter the project’s path to avoid landowners unwilling to grant the company access to their properties.
Companies would have to prove to the Iowa Utilities Commission that they have attempted to secure a route based entirely on voluntary easements before they could seek to use eminent domain, although there are exceptions.
House lawmakers approved their own legislation that would have banned eminent domain for carbon capture pipelines, but Senate Republicans amended the bill to insert their own language instead. House File 2104/Senate File 2067.
In a bid to land the headquarters of the Indianapolis-based Corteva Agriscience seed spinoff, lawmakers are targeting global corporate headquarters projects.
This bill would allow tax incentives to be awarded for high-paying corporate jobs for advanced manufacturing, bioscience, insurance and finance, technology and research and development companies locating headquarters to Iowa. Senate File 2301.
It would be illegal for video streaming services to broadcast commercials at a louder volume than the programs the ads are interrupting, under a bill in the Iowa Senate.
Doing so is already illegal for TV stations, cable providers and satellite TV under federal law, and the Iowa bill would add the same requirement for streamers. Senate File 2294.
A proposal remains alive in the Senate to better protect Iowans from predatory towing practices by adding consumer protections requested by Iowa’s credit unions, consumers and other groups.
Those include limiting towers’ fees to the first 24 hours until owners and lienholders have been given notice; extending the time owners have to retrieve their vehicles and/or possessions to 20 days; and allowing owners and lienholders to sue under Iowa’s Consumer Fraud Law if they are not properly noticed. Senate File 2457.
Signed into law
Local governments are prohibited from having policies protecting against gender identity-based discrimination under a law signed by Reynolds that expands the 2025 law Republicans passed removing gender identity as a protected class from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
The new law means nearly 20 communities that have their own ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity will no longer be able to enforce them. That includes some of Iowa’s largest cities like Des Moines, West Des Moines, Ames and Iowa City. Senate File 579.
Bills still alive
Local governments would be banned from establishing their own forms of identification under this House bill. The legislation would end Johnson County’s community ID program, as well as community ID programs used in Story and Marshall counties. House File 2296.
Senators amended the bill to eliminate a provision passed by House Republicans eliminating certain programs, including requirements that law officers go through annual training on preventing implicit bias.
That would have repealed part of a landmark 2020 law addressing police misconduct. House File 2711.
Anyone who is lawfully in possession of a gun could keep it in their locked vehicle in the parking lots of state, city, county or township buildings as long as the gun is not visible from outside the vehicle.
The legislation also forbids the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services from adopting rules that prohibit firearms, including loaded firearms, in vehicles used to transport children in foster care. Senate File 2263.
Public buildings in Iowa, including city, county and school buildings, would be required obey proclamations from the governor ordering flags lowered to half-staff.
The bill from Reynolds comes after Johnson County Board of Supervisors Chair Jon Green declined to lower county flags to half-staff last fall in the wake of the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk. House File 2517/Senate File 2430.
A Senate bill would align eligibility for Medicaid, SNAP and other public benefits programs with federal guidelines passed in the “One, Big Beautiful Bill.”
House lawmakers said they would amend the measure to remove language codifying Iowa’s privatized Medicaid program, known as managed care. Senate File 2422.
The state’s system of funding veterans affairs services would see major changes under Reynolds’ bill. It would repurpose existing state funds to create a new, performance-based county grant program to more seamlessly process veterans’ benefits claims.
The governor’s office has said an amendment is in the works that would allow counties to keep $10,000 they receive annually to support local Veterans Service Organizations in addition to creating the performance-based grant program to draw down more funds. Senate File 2466.
Iowa could get rid of townships as a unit of government and eliminate their boards of trustees, transferring their local authority to their respective counties. Senate File 2431.
Iowa’s licensed casinos would be banned from allowing simulcast greyhound races, potentially ending the state’s remaining ties to the almost-extinct industry.
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission would lose its authority to issue licenses permitting facilities to allow simulcast dog races starting July 1, 2027. Senate File 2295.
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig’s “Iowa Farm Act” is moving forward.
The bill would strengthen local food programs and change some truck weight requirements. It also includes zoning protections for agritourism operations. Senate File 2465.
The Iowa Legislature would be required to sign off on any new major administrative rules agencies use to implement various laws. The measure would also shorten all gubernatorial appointees’ terms to four years. House File 2717/Senate File 2395.
The measure limits the governor’s emergency powers, including those used to regulate churches, vaccine requirements and whether private businesses can stay open under a state disaster emergency declaration. Republicans say this stems from restrictions implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Senate State Government Committee narrowly advanced this bill with a hotly debated amendment that would allow state government funding to continue into a new fiscal year if lawmakers fail to strike a budget deal by June 30. House File 2694.
Bills that died
Lawmakers would have received a roughly $10,000 pay cut by slashing in half the number of days they could get per-diem payments for meals and lodging, under this Senate bill that never got a vote.
Instead of receiving per-diem payments for 100 days during even years and 110 days during odd years, lawmakers would have received payments for 50 or 55 days in an effort to halve the length of the legislative session. Senate File 2389.
This bill would have struck from law the requirement that Iowa maintain historical research centers in both Des Moines and Iowa City. Instead, the only requirement would have been for a center in Des Moines.
The legislation follows the Iowa Department of Administrative Services’ closure of the Iowa City facility last year, which is being challenged in court. Senate File 2293.
Iowa will not exclude undocumented immigrants and some immigrants with legal status from being eligible for the federal Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program that provides assistance for low-income families after the Senate did not hold a hearing on this House bill.
The legislation would also have required recipients of SNAP, WIC, child care assistance and other benefits to prove they have lived in Iowa for 12 months before they could claim benefits. House File 2716.
Bills still alive
Iowans who commit multiple serious crimes would serve a mandatory sentence of at least 20 years in prison under a “three strikes” proposal from House Republicans.
Felonies and certain aggravated misdemeanors would be worth a full strike while other aggravated misdemeanors and some serious misdemeanors would be worth half a strike. House File 2542.
Iowa’s statewide bond schedules would be increased to account for inflation for the first time since 2017 under this House proposal, which would also require any judge who issues a lower bail amount than recommended to justify their decision in writing.
The bill would also require the Department of Corrections to verify someone’s claims of residency, employment and criminal record before the inmate could be released on bail. And defendants could only be released on a promise to appear for their court date if they are charged for a nonviolent and non-drug-related simple or serious misdemeanor. Senate File 2399.
Attorney General Brenna Bird’s victim protection bill would allow crime victim counselors to share information currently kept confidential with law enforcement when there is immediate risk of harm to a victim or third party, a provision that saw mixed feedback from victim advocates.
Victims of a sex crime such as rape or child molestation could get a lifetime no-contact order so they don’t have to keep going to court for a new no-contact order. House File 2704/Senate File 2379.
Parents and foster parents would be allowed to “raise, guide and instruct a child in a manner consistent with the child’s sex” under this proposal.
LGBTQ advocates say it exempts the scientifically discredited practice of LGBTQ conversion therapy from the definition of child abuse, allows parents or guardians to misgender children and permits them to decline to seek gender-affirming care for a child. House File 2557.
The plant-based stimulant kratom would become illegal to possess under this bill. The legislation would classify kratom as a hallucinogenic Schedule I controlled substance and make it illegal to possess.
A first offense would be a serious misdemeanor, a second offense would be an aggravated misdemeanor and a third offense would be a class D felony. House File 2133/Senate File 2192.
Undocumented immigrants who are arrested would have a harder time making bail and face greater penalties for election crimes under a bill from Reynolds. It would create a presumption that any undocumented immigrant arrested in Iowa for a crime other than a simple misdemeanor is a flight risk and should not be granted bail.
The measure also would put into law an executive order Reynolds signed in October requiring all state agencies to verify new hires’ work eligibility using the federal E-Verify and SAVE systems. House File 2608/Senate File 2412.
Disrupting or obstructing a religious service would become a felony in Iowa under a House bill meant to prevent incidents similar to a demonstration that interrupted a church service in Minnesota in January.
The crime would be a class D felony under Iowa’s disorderly conduct law, punishable by up to five years in prison. House File 2579.
Iowa farmers would be protected from lawsuits and criminal charges based on greenhouse gas emissions caused by their farming operations under this bill, which its sponsor said would prevent “being sued for cow farts.” House File 2527/Senate File 2427.
Iowans caught driving at excessive speeds would see higher fines and could have their driver’s licenses revoked under a bill that remains alive in the Senate.
The bill would fine drivers traveling at least 25 mph above the speed limit and allow officers to revoke a driver’s license for up to 90 days if they are caught going 100 mph or more. Senate File 2288.
Bills that died
The proposal from Bird, dubbed “Katie’s Law” after a measure passed in more than 30 states, would have required DNA to be collected from individuals arrested for felony or aggravated misdemeanor offenses.
Currently, DNA is collected only when someone is convicted of an aggravated misdemeanor or felony but not when they are arrested. House File 2624.
Lawmakers never took a vote on bills seeking to limit geoengineering, or intentionally altering the atmosphere. Bills in the House and Senate would have banned attempts to manipulate or alter the weather with operations like cloud seeding. House File 2640/Senate File 2208.
The public would have seen more information about how judges rule on bond amounts, how often a judge issues a deferred judgement, how frequently a judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations and how often their decisions are reversed on appeal under this House bill.
Judges would also have the option of writing a 2,000-word statement about their judicial philosophy. House File 2719.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at [email protected]. Follow her on X at @marissajpayne.
