The 2017 Iowa legislative session began last week.

District 47 State Representative Chip Baltimore says the first week is usually ceremonial in nature. It consists of the governor’s condition of the state address, the chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court gives the condition of the judiciary address, committees are being formed and new congressional members are introduced. The first week usually involves very light discussions about possible legislation for the year.

However, Baltimore points out that this year, lawmakers are dealt with the task right away of cutting $117 million from the state’s budget in the current fiscal year.

“Unfortunately the revenues are not coming in as were projected and so we’re going to have a shortfall there. So we’ve got to go in and actually cut in areas that we had committed to in 2016.”

Once that part is figured out, then Baltimore says they can start deciding on the state’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year that starts on July 1st.

You can hear more from Baltimore on today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.