Iowa lawmakers are set to consider the state’s budget and finish policy work in the coming weeks after passing the second legislative deadline that limits the number of bills they can consider.
The second “funnel” kills any bills that have not moved out of a committee in the opposite chamber to which it originated. Senate bills had to clear their House counterparts and House bills had to clear their Senate counterparts to still be eligible for consideration.
Tax and spending bills are exempt from these deadlines and legislative leaders can use different procedures to keep a bill alive.
However, the deadline kills off a number of bills, including a number of higher education bills that lawmakers in the Iowa House sought to pass to reform the state’s higher education system. The bills passed the Iowa House but failed to get support from Iowa Senate lawmakers.
Among the killed higher education bills is a bill requiring a review of all academic programs at regent universities looking at how they contribute to workforce needs. The bill, House File 420, never received a floor vote in the Iowa House and the Senate version of the bill never advanced.
Lobbyists for the Iowa Board of Regents told lawmakers that they would institute a review of all programs during a subcommittee on the bill and Board of Regents President Sherry Bates reiterated it during a board meeting in late February. She directed the review to be completed by the Board’s November meeting.
A bill, House File 576, that would have required regent universities expel and report to immigration authorities student visa holders that support foreign terrorist organizations, was also killed in the second legislative deadline.
A bill to create a school of intellectual freedom at the University of Iowa would have died if legislative leadership did not move it to the “unfinished business calendar,” one of many moves legislative leaders can make to save a bill.
Among the higher education bills that advanced beyond the legislative deadline are:
- A bill to study the impacts of a tuition cap on Iowa’s regent universities.
- A bill to require medical schools to study the possibility of establishing a 3-year program.
- A bill banning identity politics and systematic racism in college curriculum unless it can be reasonably expected for a degree.
- A bill allowing regent universities to sue accrediting bodies if they lose accreditation or suffer other harms due to their compliance with state law.
Now, lawmakers will turn their attention to the governor’s proposed $9.4 billion budget, property tax reform, and policy work on the remaining eligible bills.