Funnel Week started out calmly on Monday and then ramped up with as many as 70 subcommittee and Committee meetings a day to move bills that will continue through the 2020 legislative process. With the exception of Ways & Means and Appropriation bills, bills that did not pass their respective Chamber Committees will not continue to move forward, unless they are added as an amendment to a bill that ‘survived’ the First Funnel.
Due to the amount of ‘bill activity’ this week, the outcome of a bill’s survival may not be known until later next week. Stay tuned to the Bill Watch List for updates.
Bills of Interest Discussed in Subcommittee and Full Committees
SF2058 – Paying College Athletes (Now SF2330)
This bill was approved by Senate Education Committee with a vote of 13-1.
SF2283 – EMS Training (Formerly SSB3139)
This bill passed the subcommittee and passed State Government Committee with a vote of 15-1.
SF2313– Future Ready Iowa 2.0 (Formerly SSB3077)
This is one of Governor Reynolds priority bills. It was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee with a vote of 17-0. Comments during the Committee meeting indicated that there would be amendments introduced regarding each division of the bill. The House companion bill, HF2384, is out of the House Commerce Committee and is now waiting for action in the House Appropriations Committee.
SSB3190 – Direct Care Database
Discussed in Subcommittee on 2/18, and waiting to see the outcome. There is a companion bill in the House (HF2117), which the Subcommittee recommended passage.
HSB642 – Senior Year Plus Proficiencies (Now HF2443)
This bill was unanimously passed out of the subcommittee and has been placed on the Calendar.
HSB644 – CTE Instructor Qualifications (Now HF2454)
This bill has been introduced and placed on the Calendar. This bill is identical to SF2154.
HSB688 – Community Colleges shall not Duplicate CTE Programs Offered by Private Institutions
This bill was not passed out of the subcommittee.
One More Thing
In addition to monitoring bills and attending Subcommittee and Committee meetings, I was invited to attend a Roundtable Discussion sponsored by U.S. Representative Cindy Axne. The topic: Student Loan Debt. Grand View University hosted the event with 70+ in attendance, including individuals in repayment, current students, K12 advisors, the Iowa Student Loan Liquidity Corporation, the Iowa College Student Aid Commission, legislators, and Ean Freels, DMACC Financial Aid Director. The conversation was lively with many antidotes regarding repayment and a few suggestions to federal statute that could help.