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DES MOINES, IOWA (AP) -- With estimates of expected tax revenue in hand, lawmakers will begin crafting final spending bills this week and push to beat a March 31 deadline to adjourn.

Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal says legislators will focus on the budget following last week's estimate by the
three-member Revenue Estimating Conference. The panel gavelegislators a bit of good news, forecasting about a $30 million
increase in revenue from earlier estimates.

As they complete the roughly $5.3 billion budget, Democrats and Republicans agreed that legislators shouldn't spend the extra money but should put it into reserves. The new budget will be made up of a series of spending bills that will be debated beginning Monday.

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