The first day of the 2019 Iowa legislative session was Monday. Constituents will have the opportunity to meet with the Representatives and Senators who represent them in Des Moines when they visit Washington this Saturday. The first of three legislative briefings for the session will be held Saturday. Republican Representatives Jarad Klein and Joe Mitchell, along with Democratic Senators Kevin Kinney and Rich Taylor have been invited to the event. Speaking of the session, Kinney shared one thing he will be working on, “I’ve been working on the hemp legislation, the industrial hemp legislation here in Iowa for the last three years. And I really think there’s traction, especially with the Federal government Ag Bill allowing industrial hemp and reclassifying it. And I think that it could be an economic engineer for rural Iowa. And protection facilities. And it also gives farmers an alternative crop that they may be able to grow.” He’s also looking to address elder fraud.

At Saturday’s legislative briefing, each legislator will give opening remarks and then questions from the audience will be answered. The briefings start at 10 a.m. and are held the third Saturday of the month in January, February, and March at the Washington County Courthouse.