Governor Branstad is sticking to his timeline of next month for the end of the legislative session, though he said he’s optimistic it won’t carry on further after this week’s legislative activity.

“It’s always good when people start focusing on resolving the differences,” said Branstad. “But I think we still have a long ways to go.”

State House members recently started talking about a biennial state education budget, and are still working through how much new money will be added to public school budgets. House members did, however, vote down Branstad’s anti-bullying bill this week.

“My hope is that this isn’t going to the final action [on the bill],” said Branstad. “There are a number of members who have expressed to my staff that they want to see this worked out, and we’re very hopeful that it will be in the end.”

Branstad said with next week being a holiday week, it’s likely that the session will bleed into June.

“Certainly it needs to get done,” said Branstad. “We expect the legislature will complete its work by the end of the fiscal year. We understand there are extenuating circumstances and that the legislature wants to be cautious and careful making spending commitments we cannot sustain over the long term.”

The legislature has Memorial Day off.