How it works › The funnel
The funnel, explained
Thousands of bills are filed in Iowa each General Assembly. Two deadlines each session, called “funnels,” decide which ones are still in the running. It’s also where this site gets its name.
Illustration, not to scale
It’s called a funnel because far more bills go in the top than come out the bottom.
The deadlines exist so legislators can stop working on everything at once and focus on the bills with enough support to move.
The rules are set in the Legislature’s Joint Rules (Joint Rule 20), adopted at the start of each General Assembly.
The two deadlines
First funnel
Out of committee in the first chamber
A House bill must be approved by a House committee (or a Senate bill by a Senate committee) by this date.
Second funnel
Through one chamber, out of committee in the other
The bill must pass the full chamber it started in, then be approved by a committee in the other chamber.
Deadlines by session
| Session | First funnel | Second funnel |
|---|---|---|
| 2027 | Not published yet | Not published yet |
| 2026 | 2026-02-20 | 2026-03-20 |
| 2025 | 2025-03-07 | 2025-04-04 |
New dates are set when each General Assembly adopts its rules in January. Funnel posts them, and reminds people who follow bills, as soon as they’re official.
Bills the funnel doesn’t apply to
- Spending bills (appropriations)
- Tax bills
- Bills from the Government Oversight committee
- Bills sponsored by legislative leaders
That’s why some of the biggest bills of the year move late in the session.
“Dead” isn’t always dead
A bill that misses a deadline usually can’t be debated that session. But its ideas can come back, most often added as an amendment to another bill that’s still alive.
A bill that stalls in the first year of a General Assembly can sometimes be picked up again in the second year, before that year’s deadlines.