Listen: Funnel week sets a legislative deadline for lawmakers

Bills must be approved by a committee in the chamber they started in to stay up for consideration after this week, in a legislative deadline known as “funnel week.” Bills that don’t get through are typically considered dead, but there are exceptions. Bills related to taxes or spending don’t need to pass the deadline, and legislative leaders have ways to revive proposals later on.

Funnel week will help lawmakers cut the number of proposals in play

The governor’s proposalthat would overhaul Area Education Agencies and raise minimum teacher salaries could come up again this week before the funnel deadline, or lawmakers could decide to bring up pieces of it later in the session.

Another bill that’s still in play would allow city councils to strip library boards of their authority without putting those issues to a vote from city residents. It’s been moved to the full House Local Government Committee, which will need to advance it for that bill to survive past this week.

Republicans are also considering several bills that target undocumented immigrants in the state. Lawmakers have advanced a bill that would prevent undocumented immigrants from getting in-state college tuition. They’re considering a new crime of human smuggling that opponents say would criminalize driving undocumented immigrants to a doctor’s appointment, and have once again advanced bills that would require employers to use a federal system to check the immigration status of job applicants.

Bills that have already passed the funnel week deadline

Gov. Kim Reynolds’ bill that would define “man” and “woman” based on a person’s sex at birth was amended and approved by Republicans on the House Education Committee Tuesday, meaning it’s passed the funnel week deadline. A separate Reynolds-backed proposal that would repeal the state law that requires state boards and commissions to be gender balanced has also passed the deadline. So did a bill that would extend postpartum Medicaid coverage.

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