The 2015 Iowa legislative session begins today (Monday) and unfinished debates of the past — like whether to raise the state gas tax — are on the agenda

Finding a way to increase the amount of money to improve Iowa’s transportation system has eluded lawmakers for the past several years. Governor Terry Branstad says he hopes legislators make a decision “sooner rather than later.”

The state fuel tax not only finances work on the Interstates and state highways, part of it goes to cities and counties for local streets and roads. House Speaker Kraig Paulsen of Hiawatha, the top-ranking Republican in the legislature, says he’s concerned that officials in more than 30 counties have now borrowed money to fix roads and bridges because they don’t have enough revenue from the fuel tax.

Paulsen warns there’s not enough state tax revenue to fulfill past promises to spend more on education reform and property tax relief, so over 40-million dollars will have to be cut elsewhere.

Senator Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs, the legislature’s top-ranking Democrat, agrees that “expectations” are going to have to be “tempered” when it comes to the budget as well as other issues.

The legislative session is scheduled to run into early May.