The bill by Democratic Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia builds on her 2017 law requiring low-income schools in disadvantaged areas to provide students with free menstrual products. She also prompted the state to repeal a tax on menstrual products that she said cost women a collective $20 million a year.
The new legislation expands the 2017 law to grades 6 to 12, community colleges and the California State University and University of California systems, starting in the 2022-23 school year. It encourages private schools and colleges to follow suit.
There were no registered opponents and few opposition votes.
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“Often periods arrive at inconvenient times. They can surprise us during an important midterm, while playing with our children at a park, sitting in a lobby waiting to interview for a job, shopping at the grocery store, or even standing on the Assembly floor presenting an important piece of legislation,” Garcia said in a statement.
Convenient access, she said, “would alleviate the anxiety of trying to find a product when out in public.”
Garcia calls herself the “period princess,” and her statement was emblazoned with a caricature drawing of her wearing a tiara and wearing a pink T-shirt saying, “Tampons, pads, menstrual cups and more!”
She said her measure was inspired by Scotland, which last year declared access to menstrual products to be a human right and required public places to provide them free of charge.
Ideally, Garcia said, menstrual products would be as common in restrooms as toilet paper and paper towels.
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