Bill calls for access to free tampons in school

SACRAMENTO — A California lawmaker wants public schools in the state to provide free feminine hygiene products in campus bathrooms, saying she too often hears of girls missing school because they can’t afford pads or tampons or putting themselves at risk for infection by not changing the products as often as they should to cut costs.

AB10 by Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, would require schools that serve students from sixth grade and up and receive Title 1 funding for low-income students to provide free tampons and pads in at least half of the restrooms on campus. Many schools already provide free feminine hygiene products in their front office, but Garcia said campuses need to do more.

“I remember having to use pads for more than 10 hours because I knew we couldn’t afford to buy a new box of pads,” said Yesenia Jimenez, who testified in support of the bill in June, saying she and her sisters would skip school sometimes when they didn’t have menstrual products. The Senate passed the bill 39-0 on Wednesday. AB10 previously cleared the Assembly 68-6, but will return to the lower house in the next week for a second vote since some changes were made to the bill in the Senate. If passed again in the Assembly, the bill would head to Gov. Jerry Brown, who vetoed Garcia’s bill last year to make feminine hygiene products tax-free.

AB10 is estimated to cost millions to tens of millions of dollars to implement.

“Many young girls struggle to deal with their periods on a monthly basis,” Garcia said. “I’ve been going around the state and hearing about how they missed school or how they have to improvise their own products.”

Garcia said menstrual products should be treated like toilet paper and offered for free since it is a necessity for women and girls. She cited a 2015 New York City pilot project where school attendance increased at middle schools and high schools that offered free tampons and pads. The following year, New York City required all sixth- to 12th-grade schools to make feminine hygiene products free to students in school bathrooms.

San Francisco Unified School District provides free pads and tampons on high school campuses through wellness centers. At middle schools, school nurses, social workers and the main office have menstrual products available free to students. Kim Coates, executive director of the district’s school health programs, said the district is currently in talks with an organization to provide menstrual products in school bathrooms at no cost to the district.

“Making sure students have greater access to pads and tampons in restrooms throughout the school campus will support our mission to ensure students are safe, healthy, and ready to learn,” Coates said.

A Los Angeles Unified School District spokesperson said the district has not taken a position on the bill, adding “historically, school nurses stock pads.”