(Radio Iowa) – It appears Iowa legislators will return to the Capitol next week to make final decisions on the state budget. The Senate’s budget committee met in public and in private for seven hours Wednesday to pass ten budget bills. Republican Senator Tom Costello of Imogene is leading negotiations with House Republicans on the bill that will provide funding for the state’s human services and public health agencies.

“We have an agreement, but not all the kinks are ironed out of it yet, so we are not solid on it yet,” Costello said, “so I can’t really say: ‘Yeah, we’ve got an agreement.'” Senator Amanda Ragan of Mason City says she and her fellow Democrats are in the dark when it comes to details in the health and human services budget.

“It’s one of the larger bills and larger budgets, so I think it’s critical that we have some opportunity to really examine it before we vote on it,” Ragan says. Senator Todd Taylor, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, is raising the same concerns about the budget for the state’s court system. “This is about the worst process possible,” Taylor said. “Normally, we meet multiple hours, multiple weeks, multiple months throughout the session.”

Republican Senator Tim Kraayenbrink of Fort Dodge is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. He says the marathon one-day meeting to review state budget plans was necessary. “This isn’t normal,” Kraayenbrink says. “The last several years haven’t been normal.” Republicans hold the majority of seats in the House and the Senate, so they determine what bills pass. Governor Reynolds and G-O-P leaders say details of the entire eight-point-two BILLION dollar state budget should be hammered out soon.

The governor continues to lobby for House passage of her state scholarship plan for private school students. Reynolds has begun endorsing Republican Primary candidates running against Republican House members who’ve said they oppose it.