Iowa poker bill dead, House Chair claims

The bill introduced by Senator Jeff Danielson which would see internet poker legalised in Iowa has reportedly died after once again failing to pass through the state’s ‘funnel deadline’, the chairman of the House State Government Committee has revealed.

Chairman Peter Cownie, Republican representative for West Des Moines, told Iowa newspaper The Gazette that the bill was only introduced to the committee on Thursday morning, not giving the committee enough time to properly debate the proposals before today’s deadline.

“There are deadlines and this really was a victim of the funnel,” Cownie explained.

The funnel deadline is designed to cut down the number of bills debated by the state government by setting a date by which legislation must have gained sufficient support in the House and Senate to remain eligible for consideration.

Cownie’s claims were supported by Speaker Kraig Paulsen, who is unlikely to make SF 2275 a leadership bill, which would allow it to disregard the funnel deadline, citing a general lack of interest in the issue.

Danielson’s bill passed a Senate committee hearing earlier this week, by 29 votes to 20, after being introduced in February this year. It follows the failure of a similar bill last year, which was also unable to pass the funnel stage of the legislative process.

Under the terms of SF 2275, Iowa’s land-based gambling operators would have been able to offer online poker, taxed at the same rate as their current activities. Legalised poker was expected to have raised around $15m for the state, with $13.2m in taxes and $1.8m for educational and charitable causes.