Code, costs & scores

The Code of Iowa is every state law currently in force, arranged by subject. Most bills don’t stand on their own: they’re instructions for editing the Code. The Legislative Services Agency publishes a new edition every year with that year’s laws folded in.

• Chapters cover one subject. Chapter 321 is motor vehicles and traffic; chapter 15 is economic development. Some chapter numbers carry letters, like 15E or 476A, for chapters added later between existing ones.
• Sections are numbered within a chapter: §321.285 is section 285 of chapter 321. A section is the unit a bill usually changes.
• Iowa Acts are the laws as passed each year, numbered as chapters in that year’s Acts. They’re how a bill becomes part of the Code.

Bills say what they do to the Code in set phrases:

A fiscal note estimates what a bill would cost or save the state, and sometimes cities, counties and schools. It’s written by the Legislative Services Agency’s Fiscal Services Division, which is nonpartisan: it works for every legislator, not either party.

• When: bills expected to change state revenue or spending get one, usually before floor debate. A bill is often amended after its note is written, so you’ll see revised notes (the newest is first on Funnel).
• Fiscal years: the state’s fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30 and is named for the year it ends. FY 2028 starts July 1, 2027. Notes usually estimate the first few years.
• General Fund: the state’s main checking account, paid for mostly by income and sales taxes. Most notes say how much a bill changes it.
• “Minimal” or “cannot be determined”: sometimes the honest answer. The note explains the assumptions either way, and those are often the most useful part.

Funnel shows the note’s “Fiscal impact” summary on the bill page, with links to every version. A bill with no fiscal note isn’t necessarily free; it may not have been analyzed yet, or staff may have found no impact.

The House and Senate stream and archive their floor sessions. When the Legislature links a moment in a bill’s history to the video, Funnel shows a “Video” link beside that line, and “Watch the debate” on the roll call. Committee and subcommittee meetings usually aren’t on video, though some are streamed.

Funnel ranks bills by how much happened to them in the last two weeks. More weight goes to steps that decide a bill’s fate:

• Passing or failing a vote, being signed or vetoed: the most.
• A floor roll call, a committee approving it, or going to the Governor: a lot.
• A scheduled meeting or subcommittee: some.
• An amendment, an organization taking a side, or someone new following it: a little.

Companion bills count once. It’s a measure of activity, not importance: a bill can be quiet for weeks and then pass in a day.

For every pair of members in a chamber, Funnel counts the roll calls they both voted on and how often they voted the same way. Only yes and no votes count, and a pair needs 20 shared votes to get a score. A legislator’s page lists the colleagues they vote most and least like, and the closest across the aisle.

The voting map places every member so the distance between two dots matches how differently they vote. Left to right is the biggest difference between members, which in Iowa is almost always party. Up and down is the next biggest, and has no fixed meaning: look at who sits at the top and bottom to read it.

Most votes in the Legislature are lopsided or unanimous, so even members of opposite parties often agree more than half the time. The differences that matter show up on the close votes.

You can follow a bill, legislator, committee, district, topic, organization or keyword and get alerts right away, in a daily digest or weekly. A shared watchlist does the same for a group: anyone with the invite link can join, editors add and remove items, and each member picks their own alert frequency. Members see each other only by the name they choose.