Lawmakers from Fort Dodge joined their colleagues from across the state in the capitol Monday to begin tackling the issues that will fill this year’s legislative session.

Eminent domain as it relates to pipeline construction and property tax reform will be the top issues in the House of Representatives, according to state Rep. Ann Meyer, R-Fort Dodge.

Property tax measures will also be foremost in the Senate, said Sen. Tim Kraayenbrink R-Fort Dodge.

“I’m really anxious to see what they’re going to come out with on property tax reform,” he added.

Kraayenbrink is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which plays a big role in determining how the state government spends its money. In that capacity, he met Monday with the leader of the Ways and Means Committee, which writes tax laws.

“I said we don’t have a lot of money to work with, so we can’t have the state backfilling property tax relief,” he said.

Lawmakers will be introducing bills on lots of other topics besides property taxes and eminent domain.

Meyer, who has worked on mental health issues since taking office in 2019, has introduced a bill that would compel the state to seek federal permission to double the amount of beds available at the mental health institutions in Independence and Cherokee.

“We’ve done other things to entice private and public hospitals to take these more complex psychiatric cases, however we still have many beds unstaffed and they refuse to take the complex needs psychiatric patients,” she said.

“I think there’s probably more of an appetite, especially on the federal level, to increase the mental health beds,” she added.

Meyer said another of her bills would require that driver’s license examinations be given only in English.

A third bill, she said, would provide parents with more flexibility in signing their children up for the voluntary preschool program. Now, she said, parents contend with rules based on when their child turns 4.

Over in the Senate, Kraayenbrink said he will be focused on money matters.

“I’m basically in the budget area,” he said.

He said his priority will be coupling state law with federal law so that tips, overtime pay and Social Security income will be exempt from state taxes.

State Rep. Wendy Larson, R-Odebolt, did not return a call seeking comment for this story.