(Radio Iowa) – Two senators who helped launch the state’s medical marijuana program have begun working on a bill that would significantly reduce the fee for the state-issued card given to Iowans who qualify for the program. Senator Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale, says his main aim is to make the products more accessible to more Iowans.

The bill would lower the cost for a medical cannabis card from one-hundred dollars a year to just 10 dollars every other year.

The bill would dramatically reduce the fees paid by the companies that are licensed to grow, produce and sell medical marijuana products in Iowa. Senator Joe Bolkcom, a Democrat from Iowa City, says the fees have to cover the 700-thousand dollars it costs a state agency to oversees the program.

Bolkcom says he totally supports the state tax deduction for the businesses that’s included in the bill, so they can write off expenses. Bolkcom and Zaun have voted to move the bill out of a Senate subcommittee, but that’s just the first stop in a lengthy process that both senators expects will lead to changes in the bill.