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Chapter 4

The funnel

Thousands of bills are filed every General Assembly. Two deadlines each session, called “funnels”, decide which are still in the running. It’s also where this site gets its name.

Every bill introduced
First funnel
Cleared a committee in its first chamber
Second funnel
Passed its first chamber and cleared a committee in the second
Passed both chambers
Became law

It’s called a funnel because far more bills go in the top than come out the bottom.

The deadlines let legislators stop working on everything at once and focus on bills with enough support to move.

The rules are 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 (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 chamber it started in, then be approved by a committee in the other chamber.

Deadlines by session

SessionFirst funnelSecond funnel
2027Not published yetNot published yet
2026Friday, February 20, 2026Friday, March 20, 2026
2025Friday, March 7, 2025Friday, April 4, 2025
2024Not published yetNot published yet

New dates are set when each General Assembly adopts its rules in January.

Bills the funnel doesn’t apply to

  • Spending bills (Appropriations)
  • Tax bills (Ways and Means)
  • Bills from the Government Oversight committee
  • Bills sponsored by legislative leaders

That’s why some of the biggest bills 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 as an amendment to a bill that’s still alive.

A bill that stalls in year one can sometimes be picked up again in year two, before that year’s deadlines.

How bills get around the funnel

The funnel isn’t a wall. Leaders who want a bill to survive have several ways to keep it moving, and they use them every year.

  1. 1

    Send it through an exempt committee

    A bill that touches spending or taxes can be sent to Appropriations or Ways and Means, whose bills don’t face the deadlines. Sometimes a small cost or tax piece is added just so it qualifies.

  2. 2

    Have a leader sponsor it

    Bills sponsored by a majority or minority leader are exempt. An idea that missed the deadline can come back as a new leadership bill.

    Funnel marks these “Exempt”
  3. 3

    Attach it to a live bill

    A dead bill’s language can be offered as an amendment to a bill that’s still alive, as long as it’s on the same subject (germane). End-of-session strike-everything amendments often carry several of these.

  4. 4

    Unfinished business

    Bills that were taken up on the floor but not finished wait on the unfinished business calendar, where they can still be debated after the deadlines.

  5. 5

    Suspend the rules

    The chambers can set the rules aside to take up a bill anyway. It takes extra votes and is rare, but it happens late in session.

  6. 6

    Year two

    In the second year of a General Assembly, a bill that already cleared committee or passed a chamber in year one has met those deadlines and can pick up where it left off.

So “Missed deadline” means unlikely, not impossible. If an issue matters to you, follow its topic or a keyword too. Then you’ll hear when its language turns up somewhere else.

How Funnel shows it

On trackAlready met the next deadline.
At riskThe deadline is less than a week away and the bill hasn’t met it. Followers get a reminder 2 days before.
Missed deadlineDidn’t meet a deadline and isn’t exempt. Usually can’t move this session.
ExemptA spending, tax or oversight bill, or one sponsored by a majority or minority leader. Funnel deadlines don’t apply.

Next chapter

The budget →

How the state decides what to spend: the fiscal year, revenue estimates, budget bills and the rules that limit them.