With the 90th Iowa General Assembly heading into its final weeks, lawmakers are beginning the process of working on the state’s budget for the next fiscal year.

District 24 Senator Jesse Green (R-Boone) says some of the Senate budget appropriation committees have released their information, but without specific amounts, which Green says is due to the newly signed into law Governor Kim Reynolds state government reorganization bill. He tells Raccoon Valley Radio that because state departments are now being streamlined into 16 departments, they need additional time to propose their budgets. 

Green believes the House is following the same path as the Senate when it comes to releasing their initial budget bills.

“I think the House more landed on a 30,000 foot view of their budget and their targets, and they got their targets out to their subcommittee chairs. But as far as line items go, I doubt the House is much further ahead than us on that.”

Green adds the House proposed about $90 million more than what Governor Reynolds had in her budget to lawmakers. He thinks this isn’t a bad place to start negotiations because $90 million is not too much away from finalizing a $9 billion budget. The final day of the legislative session when lawmakers will discontinue receiving their stipend is April 28th.