The new legislative session started last week.

District 24 Senator Jerry Behn said last week’s activities were filled with lawmakers listening to several speeches, including: the Condition of the State Address from Governor Kim Reynolds, State of the Judiciary Branch from Iowa Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Cady and the State of the Iowa National Guard from Major General Timothy Orr. Of all the topics Reynolds talked about in her speech, Behn says he was most impressed by Reynolds acknowledging that there were problems she wanted to fix with privatizing Medicaid.

“I think that kind of an ‘Iowan can do, let’s fix it and get things going’ approach is exactly the right kind of message. I think that’s what we needed to hear and I think she did a very good job.”

As far as the State of the Judiciary Address, Behn says Chief Justice Cady wants to expand family court services, but Behn cautions against doing that.

“I understand what he’s trying to do, and I agree that it would be nice to do some of that, but when you just don’t have the money, you just don’t have the money. We’re going to have to work in all areas of the budget, and we’re going to do the best that we possibly can. Everybody is just going to have to get by with what they’ve got.”

Behn encourages anyone to get in contact with him if they’ve got questions or concerns during the legislative session by emailing him at jerry.behn@legis.iowa.gov.