DES MOINES - Proposals to expand access to health care and a measure to crack down on employers who hire illegal immigrants are on top of state lawmakers' to-do lists this week.

Iowa lawmakers will race against the clock to keep top legislative priorities alive for the rest of the session by gaining committee approval this week.

Today marks the beginning of what is known at the Statehouse as "funnel week," which whittles down the list of bills. To stay alive, most policy bills must gain approval by a committee in either the House or the Senate by the end of the week.

Democrats, who control both chambers in the Legislature, are seeking to make good on campaign promises to expand access to health care.

"We think we will be able to have a fairly comprehensive package," said House Speaker Pat Murphy, D-Dubuque.

One part of the legislation would help establish a "medical home," or regular health-care provider for children on Medicaid, the health-care program for the poor.

The proposal also would allow children up to the age of 25 to stay on their parents' health insurance.

Another part would help ease the transition when Iowans move from group to individual health insurance coverage.

House Democrats also are pushing legislation that would crack down on employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants, saying the federal government has failed to enforce the law.

The measure would lay out criminal penalties for business executives engaged in the practice. It also would clarify whether someone is a worker or an independent contractor to avoid abuse of immigrant workers.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, said more protections are needed.

"What's happening right now is they're below the radar screen, a lot of them, so when they get injured, when they get hurt, they're disposable, and they can bring another batch of cheap labor up here. That's wrong," McCarthy said. "It's a violation of human rights, in our view."

McCarthy said lawmakers are trying to discourage the abuse of workers who come here and end up working for "slave wages."

Local lawmakers also have their own priorities in the coming week. Rep. Bob Kressig, D-Cedar Falls, has been concerned some amputees aren't seeing sufficient coverage by their insurance companies when they need prosthetics.

He is looking at a proposal that would set up a commission to consider possible insurance mandates.

"The idea is that this commission, this mandate commission, now is going to be a part of the legislative process when it comes to dealing with insurance mandates," Kressig said.

Rep. Mark Kuhn, D-Charles City, who has pushed for new regulations for livestock producers, wants to see money spent on a five-year study of how livestock odor can be reduced.

But he wants the study tied to the use of "air modeling," a system of measuring how much the odor from a particular livestock facility affects neighboring properties.

"How could we expect people who are concerned about the odors from swine facilities to believe that in five years we're going to implement some mitigation technologies when we don't use what we have today?" Kuhn said.

Contact Charlotte Eby at (515) 243-0138 or chareby@aol.com.