A tour of Iowa Funnel

Start local

Start with your address. Everything on Iowa Funnel starts here: put in a home address and see every government that home has. This tour uses Burlington City Hall as the example; your own address works the same way.

Who represents you. Everyone elected for this address, from Congress to the school board, one row per seat. After an election, a row shows who serves until January and who takes office then.

Your next ballot. The seats coming up at the next two elections, worked out from when each was last won and how long its term runs. Candidates replace the expected seats once they file.

Your tax dollar. An estimate of the property tax on a home here, split between the governments that levy it. Slide to your home’s value and every number follows. Open a government to see what its share pays for.

A city’s page. Each county, city and school district has a page like this: who runs it, its meetings, property taxes, budget, state money and elections. The menu at the side jumps between them.

Meetings and agendas. Iowa Funnel reads each agenda, lists the resolutions, ordinances and hearings on it, and writes a plain-language summary. When an ordinance would change the city code, it explains what would change.

Property taxes. Who gets a property owner’s bill, how the rates have moved, and what each levy is for. Dotted underlines explain a term when you tap or hover.

The budget. Where each dollar of the budget goes next to cities this size, what the city has spent so far this year, and links to the city’s own budget documents.

State money. What the state pays the city, source by source, and whether each has kept up with prices. The local option sales tax is shown apart: it’s a local tax the state only collects.

Schools. School districts have the same layout, with state aid per student checked against inflation, and students moving in and out of the district.

Your own bill. The tax calculator works out a bill for any address and assessed value, with the homestead and senior exemptions, and shows where every dollar goes.

How a bill becomes law

A bill that became law. HF 2801 changed the state’s biggest economic development tax credits. It started as a study bill, got a new number, passed a subcommittee, a committee, both chambers, and the Governor signed it. This line shows every step.

What’s in it. A plain-language summary on top; the official explanation from the Legislature’s nonpartisan staff folds out underneath.

What it costs. Fiscal notes are the nonpartisan cost estimates, with a summary in plain words and how the estimate changed as the bill changed.

The votes. Each vote with its yes and no counts. The line marks a constitutional majority: 51 in the House and 26 in the Senate, out of all members, not just those voting. Open a vote to see each legislator.

Who lobbied. Organizations must declare whether they’re for, against or undecided on a bill. Here they are, grouped by side.

A bill that stalled. HF 2001, on water use by data centers, drew lobbying from 19 organizations but never left committee. Bills that miss the funnel deadlines usually can’t move that year, though their ideas can come back as amendments or new bills.

A budget bill. HF 2800 was a broad bill on state and local government finances. The Governor signed it with item vetoes: on spending bills, a governor can strike single items and sign the rest.

The state budget. Every area of the state budget, the Governor’s plan next to what each chamber passed and the final version, and how it’s changed over the years.

When and where to speak up. Subcommittee and committee meetings, with the bills on each. Subcommittees are where the public is most often heard; each meeting links to the Legislature’s comment form.

A constitutional amendment

Changing the Iowa Constitution. An amendment has to pass two separately elected Legislatures in the same words, then go to voters. This one, on requirements for certain state tax law changes, passed in 2024 and again in 2026, then went on the November 2026 ballot.

An election

An election: the race. Results county by county, and each candidate’s campaign money: raised, spent and cash on hand, and the PACs that gave.

A candidate. Every race a candidate has run in, and their campaign committees’ reports.

Local races too. City council, school board and county races, with local candidates’ campaign money where they’ve filed reports.

Every office. Who holds each federal and state office and when it’s next on the ballot.

Stay informed

Follow what matters to you. Follow a bill, a legislator, a committee, a topic, a place or a phrase. Iowa Funnel emails you when something happens, right away or as a daily or weekly digest.

Learn as you go. Every term the site uses, explained. The Learn chapters walk through the Legislature, local government, local money and elections.