Fun With Funneling

The Gazette reports the Boys and Girls in Des Moines have been busy.

The status of bills, issues in Iowa Legislature categorized by song titles (A shoutout to John Deeth).

Bills that are "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" (Thank You Stevie Wonder)
Raise minimum wage
Stop school bullying
Broaden stem cell research
Expand veterans' benefits
Provide storm disaster help to poor Iowans
Increase K-12 funding for 2008-09 school year

Bills that are still "Staying Alive" (Grazi, Brothers Gibb)
Raise teacher pay by average $2,000 a year
Raise cigarette tax by $1 per pack
Create Iowa Power Fund to encourage renewable/alternative energy
Add sexual orientation/gender identity to protected civil rights classes
Create safe zones to keep sexual predators away from children
Give injured workers choice of doctor
Take steps to limit greenhouse gas emissions
Ease water-based requirements for landed casinos
Allow same-day voter registration
Extend school infrastructure sales tax statewide
Raise compulsory school attendance age to 18
Give incentives to attract film-making projects in Iowa
Require ``paper trail'' for voting machines
Cap interest rates at 21 percent for car-title loans
Ban ownership or possession of a wild animal
Empower local smoking regulation
Give counties more say in hog-lot siting decisions
Adopt tough ``zero tolerance'' penalties for sexual predators
Establish private cause of action for consumer fraud
Lower legal threshold for boating while intoxicated
Bar parent-teacher conferences on general election day
Remove unarmed combat fight from regulation by state labor commissioner
Require kids under 13 to wear floatation jackets on boats
Require back-seat passengers under age 18 to be restrained
Change cable franchise laws
Expand Great Places program
Create crime for abuse of a human corpse
Create statewide voluntary 4-year-olds preschool program
Establish community-based wind energy program
Regulate body piercing and require parental consent for minors
Register beer kegs
Give school district reorganization incentives
Bar remote control or Internet hunting of wild animals
Limit campaign contributions for statewide/legislative elections
Shield personal identifiable information in county records
Require landlord to have good cause to end mobile home rental pact
Establish program for home visits for all families with a newborn child
Exclude unarmed combat fighting from boxing and wrestling regulation
Require state to convert state-owned vehicles to alternative fuel vehicles
Negotiate bottle bill changes
Restrict investment in Sudan
Reimburse students the cost of advanced placement exams
Prohibit people younger than 17 riding in the open bed of a pickup
Replace ``idiot'' with ``mentally incompetent'' in Iowa Constitution
Delineate core curriculum standards
Prohibit tobacco use on school property

Bill s that are "D.O.A." (Foo Fighters or for old schoolers Van Halen)
Allow Touch-Play machines in liquor permit establishments
Reinstate death penalty
Establish hunting season for mourning doves
Raise maximum speed limit on primary highways
Tighten open meeting/open records laws
End state inheritance tax
Guarantee tuition at regent universities for four years
Modify voting hours to close polls at 7 p.m.
Direct school boards to ban sale of unhealthy food items in middle/high schools
Bar novice drivers from using cell phones while driving
Alternate order of political parties listed on election ballot
Amend Constitution to require public approval of tax or fee hikes
Amend Constitution to change and limit legislative terms
Enact statewide smoking ban in public places
Set five-year sunset for state government programs
Require proof of legal residency when applying for driver's license
Establish online prescription drug retail price comparison
Repeal Iowa's official English law
Restrict uses of the Senior Living Trust
Exempt active duty pay from state income tax
Allow justifiable use of reasonable force