♪♪ A new legislative session brings a variety of issues to the forefront.

Iowa Press takes you out into the field to profile a trio of subjects, medical marijuana in Iowa, the ongoing fight over the Bottle Bill and our state's expansion of broadband Internet infrastructure.

Stay tuned for this Legislative Preview Special Edition of Iowa Press.

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♪♪ For decades, Iowa Press has brought you political leaders and newsmakers from across Iowa and beyond.

Now celebrating nearly 50 years of broadcast excellence on statewide Iowa PBS, this is a Legislative Preview Special Edition of Iowa Press.

♪♪ Henderson: The 2022 legislative session will likely cover a variety of topics.

We begin our Legislative Preview Special on a familiar but contentious subject, the Iowa Bottle Bill.

First established under Governor Robert Ray more than 40 years ago, the Bottle Bill now pits retailers, environmentalists and redemption centers into a longstanding legislative debate.

But, is reform on the horizon?

By most accounts, Iowa's Bottle Bill has been a success.

It helps limit litter on public property and diverts tons of material from Iowa landfills.

Mick Barry: The Bottle Bill today is really the cornerstone of all the success Iowa has seen in recycling.

We're one of the top 10 recycling states in the country because of the Bottle Bill.

The Bottle Bill gave us citizens the ethic of maybe we need to do something more for our environment.

And what can we do to help the environment?

The Bottle Bill law is largely the same as when it began in 1979.

It is outdated and many stakeholders say it desperately needs changed, otherwise it may not be sustainable much longer.

I have been peddling change for 20 years and it is a really hard road to go down.

Sheri Cunningham has owned a redemption center in Pella for more than 20 years.

She is hanging on by a thread these days, but remains committed to recycling and her customers.

Sheri Cunningham: The penny profit, it has been the same for 40 years.

And every year I go up to the Capitol and say, can you do your job?

Think about what job you're doing.

Think about your business, your employer.

If they paid you what you made 40 years ago could you remain in business?

Could you do your job?

Because every day that is what I'm being asked to do is to run my business on the same penny that my mom and dad did 40 years ago.

Iowa's one cent handling fee is the lowest of any state with a bottle bill.

If you adjust for inflation, a five cent deposit from 1979 would be 19 cents today.

And the one cent handling fee would be four cents.

Michelle Hurd: So I think we would argue that there may be a more comprehensive better solution.

But if Iowans believe that the Bottle Bill is something that they would like to see stay in place, there do need to be modifications to the bill.

First and foremost, the safety and sanitation issue.

These returns need to be removed from where you want to shop a clean store and purchase your food.

Also, we need to have equity amongst the dealers.

Anybody who sells, if you're going to require anybody who sells to take back, then that needs to be equally enforced amongst all dealers.

The legislature could do several different things.

Increase the deposit to 10 cents adding more incentive to redeem.

Increase the handling fee paid to redemption centers and retailers to two cents, three cents or more.

Expand the containers covered to include water bottles, sports drinks and others.

Allow grocery stores and other retailers to opt out of accepting empty containers.

Scrap the Bottle Bill completely doing away with container deposits and encouraging people to use single stream recycling on their curbs or at drop sites.

Mick Barry: Single stream is not the solution.

We need to find a better solution than just saying single stream solves the problem because they've understood it, we've had them here, they have looked and said, okay now we understand.

We've had legislators here, now we understand.

However, lobbies are lobbies and power is power.

And could it be repealed?

Yes.

Would it be repealed because the citizens want it to be repealed?

No.

Iowa is one of 10 states with bottle bills.

There are more states currently considering adding deposit laws so the general trend is to expand rather than to eliminate container deposit systems.

Pella Bottle and Can Redemption Center paid out about $250,000 last year to charities and community fundraisers, everything from dance teams to churches to small town 4th of July fireworks celebrations.

Some individuals depend on cans and bottles to make ends meet.

Sheri Cunningham: And these are the people that break my heart, the ones that come in that need the money to survive.

So I need to come turn in money because I need to buy medicine.

And I have one lady in particular that that is what she does.

And people give her their cans or she picks them up off the road.

I have people that use money for food or utilities.

Iowa's redemption rate was over 90% at one time.

It may be less than 65% now.

Dozens of redemption centers have closed in recent years and the nickel deposit isn't worth the hassle for some consumers.

Mick Barry: I think it's important that we look at the 10 cent increase in the handling, or the five cent increase in the handling fee to a dime, really incentivize Iowans to get those back to those facilities, get those facilities upgraded as we just said, get that handling fee upgraded.

And the redemption rate in Oregon was at 50% when it was a nickel and within a year it went to 90% and by the end of year two it went to 95%.

So all of a sudden that nickel became a dime and people said, oh wait a minute, I will bend over and pick up that dime.

Iowa State University Economics Professor Dermot Hayes has studied Iowa's Bottle Bill.

His research suggests distributors could be profiting 30 million or more a year.

David Adelman: I think there is a misnomer that distributors are making significant money off of this.

The money that we make it reinvested back into the technology, the gas, the insurance, the workforce that we bring.

We also want to work with the retailers to find a solution to increase the handling fee.

So we are proposing that we would share in that cost.

So in addition to the one penny that we currently pay the redemption centers, we would pay an additional half cent, and we would like to see that the grocery stores if they want them out of their stores so bad that they should be able to participate in that process as well.

Iowa is unique in that its system is entirely private, no money ever goes to or from the state government.

One recent legislative proposal would have the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division oversee the system instead of beginning and ending with distributors.

David Adelman: We have a program that works.

Like I said, we need it tweaked.

But we believe that the private industry is going to be a lot more efficient than government intervention.

Michelle Hurd: It is a difficult issue.

It is, it's complex.

One change maybe impacts another aspect of the system.

David Adelman: Whether they are democrats or republicans, rural legislators or urban legislators, the majority of their constituents support a bottle bill.

Mick Barry: Everybody has got to give a little.

If you want to not have them at the grocery stores any more by code then maybe you've got to give a little.

Distributors, you're going to have to probably pay somebody more because, guess what, they didn't get a raise either.

Redemption centers have to have the two and really I'll vote that they really need three cents.

And put those things together, that is a pretty easy fix.

It's a lot of debate, but it's not an outlandish ask, it's not like let's go ahead and put all the water bottles in because we can leave that off.

That can be three, four, five years from now when the infrastructure really develops around the two to three cent increase and the 10 cent deposit.

If we did that I think we'd have a piece of legislation that could move forward, that both sides of the aisle can agree on, that both chambers can agree on because it is what is right for the state.

And expansion is right, I think we should expand, but that can wait.

But let's get the grocer satisfied, let's get the redemption centers satisfied and let's get recovery back up where it should be because our state should be up at 80% right now.

Henderson: Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on broadband infrastructure in Iowa.

As fresh federal and legislative funds continue to roll in over the next year, we examine the status and future of our state's Internet speeds and broadband infrastructure build out.

The divide between country and city living is starting to disappear, at least digitally.

While over an hour drive from any major metro, the 1,400 residents of the northeastern Iowa town of Elkader have as fast an online connection as any business or home in the state.

Chris Hopp: We've had fiber in our communities going back to 2007.

In fact, towns smaller than Elkader have very similar stories.

Steve Frey: So, Stratford is about an hour north of Des Moines, about 800 residents here.

We had went fiber to home exchange wide in like 2004.

For decades, the Iowa Utility Board has used exchange boundaries to identify obligated service areas for telecommunications providers.

Each exchange has at least one high speed Internet provider.

But for years, the challenge has been growing those networks to reach the truly rural citizens of Iowa and connecting them with modern speeds.

Here's how a normal tour starts right here.

This tank is nine and a half feet tall, it's 24 feet long -- Since 2008, Dan and Dorinda Potter have been harvesting maple sap for their family business, Great River Maple.

With more than a dozen in-demand syrup products, the main business driver for the Potter's was farmers market sales.

Traveling to markets as far as St. Louis or as close as McGregor, Great River Maple had a system that worked, that is until spring 2020.

Dan Potter: We had to reinvent pretty much everything we did because when COVID shut everything down famers markets wise, we had paid for the State Fair, we had paid for farmers markets, we were invested.

All that money had gone out.

But when they shut everything down, yes we did get that money back after a period of time, but we had no market.

We lost 99% of our market just shut down and we had to reinvent ourselves.

Great River Maple's situation was not unique.

Across the country, millions of Americans searched for how to keep their businesses and families afloat amidst pervasive shutdowns and virtually no in-person interactions.

For nearly everyone, the solution was the same, high speed Internet.

Chris Hopp: We've seen I'll say more of an interest or more of that demand in the last 18 months than we did in the previous 18 months and I think it is working remotely, educating remotely, health care visits remotely.

Traditionally, broadband has meant cable or DSL Internet access.

However, due to the limitations of the copper used to build a provider to subscriber connection loop, basically the longer the loop the slower a connection becomes.

Dave Duncan: In our minds, fiber is the future proof way to deliver broadband.

Dave Duncan and the Iowa Communication Alliance advocate for legislation and funding specifically to upgrade and extend the connections of rural Iowans.

For years, they have pushed politicians to prioritize broadband to less populated areas and not simply use the issue as a campaign talking point.

Dave Duncan: Well, it was interesting five years ago because that is about when Governor Branstad passed and signed into law the Connect Every Acre Initiative that was going to be a recognition that we need to connect more Iowans on the legislative side of things.

And at that point in time they set up a broadband grant program, but they didn't fund it.

In 2018, the state legislature eventually funded the Empower Rural Iowa grant program through Iowa's Office of the Chief Information Officer, or OCIO.

During the first OCIO notice of funding availability, or NOFA, a total of $1.3 million of grant money was awarded.

Two years later, after the pandemic hit, the program became supercharged and Iowa joined four other states to use federal funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, to greatly increase the grant awards through multiple NOFA rounds.

Dave Duncan: To contrast, in September the OCIO issued $97.5 million in grants.

Fast forward to today, the state just closed yet another grant round and that is $200 million.

Chris Hopp: So we have been fortunate enough to win grants as the OCIO put in NOFA 3, 4, 5 and 6.

So about almost $20 million worth of grants.

So the goal that we had set forth pre-COVID, we wanted to have all of our customers connected within 10 to 12 years.

So the benefit of the grants allowed us to shrink that cycle down to about three years.

Stratford Mutual Telephone was awarded more than $5 million in Empower Rural Iowa grant funds.

That boost will allow them to more than double their footprint connecting Story City, Fraser, Ridgeport and the outlying rural areas.

Steve Frey: This gives us opportunity to scale up our business to bring in, introduce ourselves to some new customers.

But it's still not a slam dunk.

When we look at these areas now, a lot of them are still a seven or eight year payback or longer, and that is with the government assistance.

One of Stratford's nearly connected customers is the Des Moines Y Camp north of Boone.

Alex Kretzinger: We are best known for our summer camps, so that would be overnight camp, day camp, our family camp programs that fill up the months of June to August.

But we also host conferences, we host meetings and in many cases they have programs and presentations that they need Internet for to be able to upload their presentation or videos or whatever.

And in the past we have not been able to offer that and as a result many have kind of looked at more places that have infrastructure rather than a place like this.

Steve Frey: If everyone is serious about bridging the digital divide, it doesn't happen with private investment alone.

It just, the paybacks are too long and too great.

Using the Y Camp as an example, you're talking about several thousand dollars just for that one customer.

Dave Duncan: The fact that we are spread across the entire state with sparsely populated areas all across the state makes it very hard and expensive to serve because a mile of fiber optics could cost somewhere between $20,000 and $30,000 to put in and that is in the best of circumstances.

That doesn't even include all the rocks and the hills and the topography that greatly adds to the cost to deploy fiber.

As of January 2021, the OCIO has awarded nearly $375 million in grants, with the overwhelming majority of it coming from federal coronavirus relief funding.

It is Governor Kim Reynolds' stated goal for every part of Iowa to have a fiber connection by 2025.

With four years remaining to reach that goal, rural Iowa Internet providers and their potential customers will need state and federal legislatures to continue funding grants such as the OCIO's program Empower Rural Iowa.

Back at Great River Maple, its fiber optic fueled reinvention is connecting practically every aspect of their production to easy monitoring by computer and hyper speed Internet.

This 21st century revamp is a great example of how a truly high speed connection can bring rural life to the forefront of technology.

Dan Potter: We are super excited about having automation now and at our in-the-bush where we have pumps and vacuums and generators -- Dorinda Potter: So that is because we have broadband now.

And I can wake up in the morning, look and see oh, everything's fine, go back to sleep.

I don't have to go down here and check everything now.

So with the broadband connected to the TV it's all going to be, I can see everything without having to leave the house.

Dan Potter: We're really looking forward to that.

It's like hiring more people because it's information and that is what I need to make decisions.

And now we've got something maybe cutting edge.

That's kind of fun.

Henderson: Iowa's neighboring state of Illinois has recently passed recreational marijuana legislation.

As Illinois and other states begin to implement rapidly expanding access to CBD materials, Iowa is still navigating the early years of a medical marijuana framework.

We explore Iowa's current rules and where business owners hope to grow this burgeoning industry.

Since California first legalized medical marijuana in 1996, 35 other states have followed suit.

Now, Iowa and every state bordering, except Nebraska, has some sort of locally overseen program.

Illinois is the only border state currently also allowing recreational sales.

Iowa's medical cannabis program began with a trickle.

In 2014, legislation allowed neurologists to prescribe cannabidiol or CBD oil, in certain cases of pediatric epilepsy.

Products contained only slight amounts of the psychoactive ingredient, THC.

With limited guidance from the state, the confusing measure sunset in 2017.

Since then, a complete overhaul and incremental adjustments have expanded Iowa's Medical Cannabidiol Act to include more health conditions.

Industry stakeholders applaud the progress but say hard work remains.

Lucas Nelson: The market really kicked off in Iowa December 1st, 2018 and from there we have been able to supply products to the various dispensaries across the state from then.

And we've gone through a lot of changes.

We have been able to remove a THC cap that used to be on the program, now allowing full levels of THC in any of the products.

Lucas Nelson is General Manager of Des Moines based MedPharm Iowa, the state's sole approved medical cannabis grow operation.

Iowa law presently allows for up to two such enterprises, but the other already folded, and a more recent replacement isn't up and running yet.

Lucas Nelson: Every single plant in the entire facility has to be tracked in real time by our electronic system and by the state.

There are only five state-sanctioned dispensaries in Iowa and MedPharm is the supplier for them all, including competition in Council Bluffs, Waterloo and Iowa City as well as their own locations in Sioux City and Windsor Heights.

Stephen Wilson: The number one thing we see in here is pain, whether that is chronic pain or acute pain.

Dispensary manager Stephen Wilson says at first new cannabis patients arrived on his doorstep as a last resort after they had run through a slew of other pain medications.

Now some doctors suggest trying cannabis before harder prescription drugs like opioids.

But hurdles remain, particularly for many income-restricted sufferers.

Stephen Wilson: I think the most important thing to realize is this is an expensive product that is not covered by insurance.

Opiates are often, very often covered by insurance and a patient may pay $5 for a bottle of oxycodone, hydrocodone, where out-of-pocket they may pay $50 to $100 per visit.

Currently, Iowa patients must be state-certified via a health care practitioner and pay up to $100 annually for a medical card to authorize purchase of any products.

MedPharm would like to bring the cost down, extend the term or both.

Well, I was thinking about trying this -- Under 8,000 Iowans are registered as medical marijuana cardholders, less than a fraction of one percent of the state's population.

Product choices are limited to topicals and oral forms like tinctures and pills, but no edibles.

Vape oil, once restricted, has surged in popularity.

But Wilson says patients are pushing for more.

Stephen Wilson: Most other medical cannabis programs are going to have flower.

Iowa doesn't currently allow for us to manufacture or sell flower products.

If we are able to do that, prices are going to naturally fall.

It is also important to keep in mind that we are a very young medical cannabis program.

Our prices are not dissimilar from where Colorado, California, Illinois and Minnesota all started out as well.

A half gram vape mix of high THC and low CBD sets Iowa patients back about $75 after tax, while in Colorado and California similar items can be found around 66% less, for about $25 per unit.

Nearly all other prescription drugs almost nationwide are not taxed.

Stephen Wilson: It's very expensive to operate in the state currently.

While MedPharm remains under its original ownership, two of the three other dispensaries in Iowa have changed hands, and for one, their previous Davenport location after those businesses shut down.

Sheriff Joe Kennedy: They have to buy permits, they have to get licenses and that all costs money which takes off of how much profit you get.

The black market they don't have to deal with any of that.

Those people have their network, they are making their money, they're not going to change just because the state made it legal.

Ahead of the Illinois legal weed kickoff New Year's Day 2020, Dubuque County, Iowa Sheriff Joe Kennedy said his primary concerns along the state border were impaired drivers and illegal product coming back across the Mississippi River.

But law enforcement in border areas like the Quad Cities say the move by Illinois hasn't significantly elevated crime statistics.

On Iowa's northwestern border, South Dakota voters approved dual-track legalization in November 2020.

Governor Kristi Noem left medical approval in tact but sued on a technicality to keep recreational use illegal.

Ultimately, the South Dakota Supreme Court sided with Noem just before Thanksgiving 2021.

Dane Schumann: It looks to use that the legislature in South Dakota will probably still end up passing some kind of a recreational cannabis program anyway.

Dane Schumann is a lawyer who lobbies Iowa lawmakers on behalf of MedPharm, which involves keeping an eye on pot-related developments nearby.

Dane Schumann: We see the impact that Illinois's program has had on the medical program because we can track how many patients in Iowa's medical program there are within each county.

And if you look over at Iowa's eastern border, the amount of medical patients has completely stagnated since January 1 of 2020 when Illinois's program went live.

Lucas Nelson: Many of us have been in that situation where if we're in pain or someone in our family or that we care about is in pain we'll do anything to help that.

Industry and medical experts believe one of the biggest risks for patients who choose to engage black market scenarios, besides Iowa's zero tolerance statutes, is product purity.

Lucas Nelson: What you're seeing here is some of our THC oil that is being distilled.

This is important because in our products we have ratios of CBD to THC.

We have developed and honed this process over the several years of operation.

Despite that we're always trying to dial it in to get our yields better, get our purities better and be able to do this quicker as well.

MedPharm does their own extensive safety testing before paying for mandated state analysis.

Due to Iowa's flower restriction, all raw marijuana must be processed into oil before manufacturing, further driving up costs.

Nelson says lifting the ban would bring his company closer to a full range of products and help nudge the state towards parity with neighbors like Minnesota, the state which Iowa based its program upon.

The alternative to allowing flower in the Hawkeye state for MedPharm could be expansion into friendlier marijuana business climates, which would send additional jobs and tax revenue to out-of-state coffers.

Nelson would prefer to grow the business in-state.

Lucas Nelson: We have no intention of leaving and we're really proud that we are Iowans, we're all from Iowa, have connections in Iowa before we started working here at MedPharm and think that makes us maybe a little bit more uniquely dialed in to understand what this state needs.

Henderson: Thanks for joining us on this Legislative Preview Special Edition of Iowa Press.

You can view all of our public affairs features and programs online at iowapbs.org.

And be sure to tune into regular broadcasts of Iowa Press 7:30 Friday night and noon Sunday.

For all of us here at Iowa PBS, thanks for watching.

♪♪ Funding for Iowa Press was provided by Friends, the Iowa PBS Foundation.

The Associated General Contractors of Iowa, the public's partner in building Iowa's highway, bridge and municipal utility infrastructure.

Fuel Iowa is a voice and a resource for Iowa's fuel industry.

Our members offer a diverse range of products including fuel, grocery and convenience items.

They help keep Iowans on the move in rural and urban communities.

Together we Fuel Iowa.

Small businesses are the backbone of Iowa's communities and they are backed by Iowa banks.

With advice, loans and financial services, banks across Iowa are committed to showing small businesses the way to a stronger tomorrow.

Learn more at IowaBankers.com.