FAIRFIELD, IOWA -- As the new legislative session approaches, there are many issues the Iowa General Assembly hopes to address.

On Saturday, State Representative Curt Hanson shared with KTVO some of the issues that he hopes the House and Senate can work on this upcoming session.

“Hopefully we'll deal with Mental Health Reform which is now currently in almost all of the news headlines. I think we have to make that much more accessible, affordable and accountable. And by that I mean, that stigma has to be withdrawn and we have to have good mental health for a lot of Iowans. So those I think are going to be some of the big issues. Of course there's going to be some of the usual issues too so I hope that we can work together as bi-partisan and move Iowa forward,” said St. Rep. Hanson.

Hanson said that the past session got many items on the table but many of them did get shelved.

He added that he believes a lot of emphasis needs to be placed on Education Reform and that it is going to be critical for Iowa and the United States saying, “If we don’t have a strong education system, then we’re not going to have a strong economy.”