Week two has come to an end. We are settling in and getting down to work.

The following is a quick rundown of the process a bill must go through during the session.

Any legislator can have a bill drafted. Once the bill is drafted, it is delivered to the representative for final signature and approval, after which the bill is sent back to the Chief Clerk’s Office. The bill is then sent to the Speaker’s Office, where he assigns it to the appropriate committee.

It is then introduced on the House floor. The committee chair, to which the bill is assigned, has the power to decide if the bill moves through the committee or to kill it. If the committee chair decides to move the bill forward, it is assigned to a subcommittee. The subcommittee is chaired by the bill manager, who will run the bill in the various stages of the process. If the bill passes out of subcommittee it must then pass through the standing committee.

After passing the standing committee, the Speaker must then decide if he wants to run the bill on the House floor. The Speaker can either kill the bill or can schedule it on the calendar for floor debate.

If the bill passes in the House, it then goes to the Senate and the entire process starts over on the Senate’s side. Finally, after it passes out of both the Senate and the House, the bill is sent to the governor’s office to be signed into law. A bill can start in the House or it can start in the Senate.

If the bill gets amended in the body where it was not originally passed, then it must go back to the original body for them to decide if they want to accept the amendment or decline the amendment. If they do not accept the amendment, then the bill will die. If a bill starts with a HF (House File) it started in the House; if it starts with a SF (Senate File) then it started in the Senate.

Civics test graduation requirement

This week, the Education committee passed a bill out of subcommittee that requires all students in high school to pass the U.S. Citizenship test in order to graduate.

Under this bill, students would need to answer at least 60 percent of the questions correctly to pass and could retake the exam as many times as needed. It also explicitly states that no fee will be associated with this test.

Last year, the Iowa Legislature passed a bill to reprioritize history and civics in education by requiring the State Board of Education to include minimum standards related to U.S. history, western civilization, civics and Iowa history.

It’s clear when you talk to young people today that history and civics has become somewhat of a second-class subject.

Our goal is to ensure that Iowa graduates leave high school with a fundamental understanding of our government, our freedoms, and the importance of civic engagement.

Passing a test built off the same test required to become a U.S. citizen is a great bar to set for all Iowa students.

State Rep. Mike Sexton is a Republican from Rockwell City.