With a shortened Iowa Legislature session that did not pass a FY2021 budget or other bills, time will be limited when and if the legislature reconvenes this summer. State Senator Julian Garrett tells KNIA News the budget will be the top priority, and that won’t leave much time for other issues the legislature will look at.

“When we reconvene we could pass other legislation, but the budget is really the only thing we have to do. The other things might be things different people would want to pass, we all have things we want to do, but it remains to be seen how much of that we will try to do. If there is general agreement that we can get it done quickly, but it seems to me it would be unlikely we would try to pass any controversial bills or things the House and Senate don’t agree on.”

Garrett also said there is time for the state to work without a passed budget even though the fiscal year ends on June 30th, as July and August will have FY2020 budget numbers to work with so the state can continue to function.