(KCEN) -- In less than a week state law makers will head to Austin to make some big decisions.
They will spend 140 days looking at major state problems.
One of the biggest issues is the state budget and how's it's being used.
Thanks to the oil boom in the west, Texas is fairly strong economically, but lawmakers still say the budget will be foremost on their minds.
In the middle of March an emergency budget item will deal with items left over from the last session.
And until those are paid, law makers won't be able to write a new budget for the next two years.
Putting more money into the public school system and requiring people who receive welfare to be drug tested are two of the big talkers.
Following that is state road conditions and a water supply that is being impacted by a growing population.
Rep. Ralph Sheffield said, "We have until the first week in March if we want to file a bill, legislative that might be needed for our district, and then at that point basically most committee picks won't even be done till probably early February at the earliest and so then business really starts."
This session is a little different than previous ones.
There are six new senators and more than 40 new house members.
Usually there are only about 20 new members.
