The first funnel for the Iowa Legislative session has passed, and now both the Senate and House will have to prepare for the second funnel.

Iowa House District 23 Representative Ray Sorensen tells Raccoon Valley Radio how legislators will work to continue working on bills through the next couple of weeks.

“So previously we’ve had very minimal floor debate. It’s been a lot of subcommittee and committee work. Those committees will have to still stay in operation until we’re past second funnel, but a lot of it’s going to be floor debate. We’re going to have some long days of getting through what’s known as the white calendar, which is the bills that made it out of committee and to the floor, and the bills that are coming over from the Senate. And those Senate bills have to make it out of our committee and vice versa in order to stay alive and pass the second funnel. So that’s kind of how we continue to, quote, funnel down the bills and really focus on what is our priority as an entire legislature by doing that.”

Sorensen adds that because the Senate and House have different committees, sometimes a bill that starts in one is categorized into another once it crosses over, like a bill that was in the House Economic Growth and Technology Committee may fit better in the Education Committee once it gets to the Senate.