The 2017 state legislative session kicks off today at the capitol.

With the Republican party having control of both chambers and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds potentially taking over when Governor Terry Branstad becomes the U.S. Ambassador to China it’s expected to be an interesting year and it won’t necessarily be an easy one for anyone.

“I think there will be some movement on issues that in the past we’ve had difficulty getting done.  First of all, right out of the shoot as we go into this next session, we’re going to be hit in the face with a budget problem.  We’re right in the middle of the fiscal year 2017 budget, the one that we did last year, and we’re about $110 million short.  So we will have to go back and deal with that so that the budget is balanced when we end the fiscal year in June.”

That’s District 19 State Representative Ralph Watts who will be a guest on today’s Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program.