The redemption centers began the year with a postcard campaign. The center owners and their customers sent 35,000 postcards to their individual legislators, asking them to support an expansion.
The expansion bill (HF 164) made it through the House subcommittee meeting and the Ways & Means Committee. However, in April, the full house decided there wasn’t enough time to debate the issue, and the bill was shelved.
In July, Jeff Geerts of the DNR held a meeting with the Redemption centers, the Grocers Association, and the distributors, in order to find out what works and what doesn’t work with the Bottle Bill, but conclusive results have not been released.