The Iowa Legislature has finished it’s second Funnel Week. That’s what Iowa House Representative Jim Van Engelenhoven tells KNIA/KRLS News. He says that the funnel process helps get bills passed, and keeps the legislature on schedule. He also says that most of the Iowa State budget is in the State Senate’s hands at this point and that process continues to move forward.

Senator Paul McKinley tells KNIA/KRLS News that a bill that was passed by a Senate committee would allow Mid-American to begin planning for an electric generating facility using nuclear power. He notes that this does not authorize the facility. Senator McKinley adds that the Legislature identified electric generation as a priority in 2001. He says after previous governors have denied clean-burning coal plants, nuclear energy is the only option remaining to reach that priority.