This was a week of “chasing the clock.”. The second funnel week ended on Friday, March 20.

For a House bill to remain active after the first funnel deadline it must have been voted through a subcommittee, full committee, a full House vote, and then pass to the Senate and vise versa.

During this second funnel, a House bill that passed to the Senate must be voted through a Senate subcommittee then through the full Senate committee and vise versa. This process whittles down more than 2,000 bills proposed at the beginning of the 2-year General Assembly. All through this journey, a bill can be amended in the other chamber. If amended, it must go back to be voted on again by the other Chamber.

There is always a sense of urgency in the last week of funnel. Everywhere you turn, there is a subcommittee moving another bill so it can go to a vote of the full committee before the deadline. When the dust settles, we find out which of our important pieces of legislation are still “alive.”

BUT …Now, here’s where it gets a bit confusing. If your favorite piece of legislation did not make it through the funnel, there still may be a way to get it into law.

Ways & Means and Appropriations legislation are immune to the funnel dates. If a bill includes (or can include) a tax or fee, it can be assigned to the Ways & Means committee in either chamber. If the bill contains a cost to the state, it may be assigned to the Appropriations committee.

Most of the bills I have discussed in these newsletters are waiting for the Senate to act.

Overview of Bills Passed in the House

HF2739 – Temporary HMO Tax Increase to Assure Medicaid for Iowans in need

In a nutshell, Medicaid funding is a complicated mix of state and federal funding. For a short 9-month window of time, the federal government will match this tax paid by the insurance industry. Medicaid costs have skyrocketed in the past few years, and the legislature is using every tool available to ensure Medicaid services continue for our most vulnerable citizens.

In 2023, Iowa reduced the tax paid by insurance companies to 0.925%. Most states are somewhere between 2-4%. This bill proposes an increase in the tax for nine months, to 3.5%.

You may have heard that your rates are going up if this becomes law. NOTE: Did your rates go down in 2023 when we reduced the tax? Wellmark increased their HMO rates by over 14%.

HF2133 – Kratom as a Schedule 1 controlled substance

This was a difficult bill for me. I have family and friends who use the all-natural product. Unfortunately, there are bad players in the industry and we received many reports of tainted product causing injury or death.

A group of us had an amendment to legalize, regulate, and restrict natural Kratom for those over 21, and at the same time make the synthesized 7-OH version illegal (much the same as alcohol). This failed in a unique, robust debate on the House floor.

The bill to make all Kratom illegal now goes to the Senate.

SF 2218 – Education/Immigration Reform. This bill is a demonstration of how the process of legislation morphs into a better law. The original Senate bill dealt with ensuring those who work with our K-12 students are authorized to work in the US. This was in response to the Des Moines Public Schools Superintendent fiasco that became a national media circus.

The House Education committee added amendments which included language from HF2611 and HF2608. The first amendment provided penalties if a person provides an employer a false social security number. It also prohibits an employer from continuing the employment after discovering a false Social Security number has been provided. The second amendment requires E-Verify for new state employees.

We combined the three related bills addressing the larger problem – if people are working here, they should be authorized to work here.

Property Tax

The Governor, Senate Ways & Means Committee, and House Ways & Means Committee have all presented their particular versions of Property Tax Reform. I reviewed these and also included my bill HF2577 in my newsletter Under the Golden Dome 2026 #5 & 6 sent Feb 22, 2026.

I will continue to push for legislation that actually simplifies our property tax formula while protecting services in our small towns and rural areas.