Sponsors (77)
Official title: To increase the availability and affordability of menstrual products for individuals with limited access, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 29, 2025 by Grace Meng · Last progress May 29, 2025
The bill substantially expands access to menstrual products across schools, campuses, public buildings, workplaces, healthcare programs, and social‑service distributions—improving dignity, health, and economic relief for many—while requiring significant new public spending, imposing administrative and implementation burdens, and producing uneven coverage without careful funding and rollout.
Low-income menstruating people nationwide will gain funded access to free or subsidized menstrual products through multiple federal grant and program channels (SSBG grants, TANF-related grants, Emergency Food & Shelter funding, college grant programs, school initiatives, and Medicaid coverage expansions).
K–12 students and college students (with priority for community colleges and high-Pell campuses) will receive free menstrual products at schools and campuses, reducing missed class time and improving attendance and educational participation.
Medicaid beneficiaries who menstruate will be able to obtain menstrual products through Medicaid coverage, lowering out-of-pocket costs and improving menstrual hygiene and related health outcomes.
Taxpayers and public budgets will face significant new and ongoing costs (direct appropriations, grant funds, Medicaid expansion responsibilities, and procurement for schools, workplaces, federal buildings, and detention facilities), increasing federal and state/local spending pressures.
Access will be uneven: competitive grants, modest/limited appropriations, eligibility limits (e.g., TANF-linked grants), and state-by-state implementation timelines mean many people and localities could remain without reliable access, producing geographic and socioeconomic gaps.
State agencies, schools, colleges, nonprofits, employers, detention facilities, and federal agencies will incur administrative, procurement, and compliance burdens to apply for grants, update policies, source products that meet standards, report outcomes, and distribute supplies.
Based on analysis of 22 sections of legislative text.
Expands federal funding and program requirements to provide free menstrual products across Medicaid, schools, colleges, prisons, shelters, federal buildings, and TANF, and bans state sales taxes on them.
Provides federal funding, program changes, and mandates to expand free access to menstrual products across schools, colleges, prisons, shelters, federal buildings, and health programs. It bans state sales taxes on menstrual products, adds menstrual products as a covered Medicaid item, creates competitive grant programs for TANF administrators and colleges, and directs agencies to stock free products in public restrooms. The bill funds new programs beginning FY2026, sets requirements for States that receive certain grants (including certification tied to Byrne JAG funding for prisons), authorizes appropriations for grants and technical assistance, and directs rulemaking and periodic reporting and evaluation. It also directs a Labor Department rulemaking to require large employers to provide free menstrual products to employees and requires federal buildings to stock free products in public restrooms.