Policy bills not out of committee by Friday will not be eligible for passage by the Iowa Legislature this year, but higher education officials say the bills important to the regent universities are not in jeopardy.

Friday is the second legislative funnel date — the deadline the Legislature sets for itself, which effectively kills any bill not out of committee. The main issues facing Iowa’s three regent universities deal primarily with state appropriations, which are not affected by the funnel. The Iowa Board of Regents and Gov. Tom Vilsack have requested $40 million in additional funding for the next five years.

“There really aren’t any important bills that we’re working on that are in any danger from the funnel,” said Andy Baumert, ISU state relations officer. “The major bills for Iowa State and for the regents generally are the appropriations bills, and those are not subject to the funnel.”

The House passed a budget March 30 that included a $12.6 million increase in funds for the three regent universities, which is more than the $6 million increase in the budget passed by the House Education Appropriations subcommittee. Democrats have vowed to fulfill the entire amount requested by the regents.

Vilsack plans to increase funding to the universities through $20 million from legislative appropriations and an equal amount in a salary bill, which Vilsack has yet to release.

A policy bill that would affect the workings of the Board of Regents is one of the bills that could have been affected by the funnel.

“House File 686 has already been through committee, so that isn’t subject to the funnel,” Baumert said.

The bill would give greater power to the regents regarding internal auditing and contract awards to third parties, which would allow the board to save money.

There are many bills that did not pass out of committee that might have affected higher education, but Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, said these bills are not a priority.

“There were a lot of bills in the Senate Education Committee this year that did not move forward,” Quirmbach said. “The Democratic Committee co-chairman indicated that his Republican counterpart was unwilling to debate.”

A Senate Education Committee Republican could not be contacted for this article.

House and Senate bills could have affected tuition rates for National Guardsmen and non-citizens, regent appointments, student-athlete accountability and university admission requirements.

“There are usually a fair number of bills that under normal circumstances are not supported or not considered to be great ideas,” Quirmbach said. “That happens in any legislative session in any area, not just with education.”

Quirmbach noted that the process by which legislators go about passing bills is used to root out bad ideas, but along the way that same process sometimes filters out the good ones, as well. He said having an evenly divided Senate complicates this process, which is usually dominated by the majority party.

“Usually one party has the majority, and it can push its agenda,” Quirmbach said.

The Senate must also approve Vilsack’s appointments to the Board of Regents, but the appointments are not subject to the funnel date.

Those awaiting Senate confirmation are Tom Bedell, chairman of Pure Fishing; Ruth Harkin, wife of Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Teresa Wahlert, president of Mid-America Group. The Senate already confirmed the reappointment of Des Moines Regent Rose Vasquez and the new appointment of Michael Gartner, principal owner of the Iowa Cubs.

A clerk of Senate Education Committee Chairman Michael Connolly, D-Dubuque, said appointment confirmations will need to be completed by the end of this legislative session, but they are expected to be completed within the next two weeks.