DES MOINES -- While the Iowa Legislature's new freshman class was acclimating to the state Capitol, one new member had a leg up on the rest.

Sen. Merlin Bartz, a Grafton Republican, made his return to the Iowa Legislature Monday after seven years away.

Much of the 2009 session's first day was steeped in ceremony and organizational chores, with representatives and senators going through a tradition-bound process of establishing new seating arrangements in their respective chambers and sitting through their leaders' kickoff speeches.

Bartz, who previously served three terms in the Iowa Senate and one term in the House, enjoyed a few perks that came with his seniority that aren't enjoyed by other freshman lawmakers

Bartz got a trio of plum committee assignments he had requested, while most freshmen take whatever their leaders assign.

Perhaps more enviable is another perk that comes with seniority.

"I got a great parking spot," Bartz said.

Parking spaces are in short supply on the Capitol complex, especially since a giant lot at the foot of the Capitol was torn out to make way for a terrace and green space.

Bartz spent most of the years since his last legislative stint in a variety of natural resources and conservation positions in the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Bartz left the Senate in 2002, when Republicans were still in the majority, and said it will be a "gigantic change" to come back to a chamber now controlled by Democrats.

"There's certainly a lot of new faces and new names that I'll have to become accustomed to," Bartz said on his first day back on the job.

Other new lawmakers are adjusting to their new roles as well.

Rep. Jason Schultz, a farmer and Republican from Schleswig, was getting used to life in Des Moines, a far busier place than the western Iowa town of about 800 people where he's from.

"I'm not totally comfortable with it, to be honest," Schultz said. "And then to have my first day driving to the Capitol being a small snowstorm � it's just a change."

He'll have help navigating the city from his new roommates.

During the four-month session Schultz is sharing a three-bedroom house with Sen. Shawn Hamerlinck, R-Davenport, and Rep. Matt Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley.

For now, Schultz is trying to learn his way around the Capitol and getting to know his new colleagues.

"Trying to put the names and faces together will take a week or two," he said.

State Rep. Kerry Burt, D-Waterloo, called his first day in the Iowa House "surreal."

"The gravity of it all hasn't hit, so to speak," said Burt, a Waterloo firefighter and former University of Iowa football player.

He's hopeful this session won't be overshadowed by some of the difficulties lawmakers face with the budget and flood recovery.

"I would just hope that at the end of it people can at least kind of sit back and shrug their shoulders and say 'Man, you know what? That was a pretty good session," Burt said.

Contact Charlotte Eby at (515) 422-9061 or chareby@aol.com.