Amended  IN  Senate  March 16, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 59

Introduced by Senator Skinner
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry)
(Coauthors: Senators Blakespear, Menjivar, Rubio, and Wahab)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Calderon, Davies, Friedman, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Reyes, and Schiavo)

December 19, 2022

An act to add Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 24300) to Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to menstrual products.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 59, as amended, Skinner. Menstrual Product Accessibility Act.
Existing law requires certain public schools, as specified, to stock the school’s restrooms with an adequate supply of free menstrual products, as defined, available and accessible, free of cost, in all women’s restrooms and all-gender restrooms, and in at least one men’s restroom, at all times. Existing law also requires the California State University and each community college district to stock an adequate supply of menstrual products, available and accessible, free of cost, at no fewer than one designated and accessible central location on each campus.
This bill would enact the Menstrual Product Accessibility Act, which would require all women’s restrooms, all all-gender restrooms, and at least one men’s restroom in a building owned by the state or in the portion of a building where the state rents or leases office space, a building owned by a local government where a specified state-funded safety net program is administered, or in a hospital that receives state funds, as specified, to be stocked with menstrual products, as defined, available and accessible to employees and the public, free of cost, at all times.
By imposing additional requirements on local agencies, this bill would create a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 (a) This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Menstrual Product Accessibility Act.
(b) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(1) California recognizes that access to menstrual products is a basic human right and is vital for ensuring the health, dignity, and full participation of all Californians in public life.
(2) California has an interest in promoting gender equity, not only for women and girls, but also for transgender men, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people who may also menstruate and experience inequities resulting from lack of access to menstrual products.
(3) Inadequate menstrual support is associated with both health and psychosocial issues, particularly among low-income people. A lack of access to menstrual products can cause emotional distress, physical infection, and disease.
(4) California recognizes that period poverty is a public health issue, and addressing period poverty can lead to economic opportunity for the state’s people and communities and improved health for women, girls, and mestruators, menstruators, thus ensuring all people have access to the basic necessities required to thrive and reach their full potential.
(5) Approximately one-half of the population will have a period every month for decades of their lives whether they want to or not.
(6) Access to menstrual products is critical to the dignity, empowerment, and upward mobility of employees, ensuring increased success at their place of employment.
(7) National surveys report that one in five women, girls, and other people who menstruate miss work due to a lack of sufficient period supplies, and that 16.9 million Americans who menstruate live in poverty.
(8) The Legislature passed several important measures to reduce period poverty, including legislation that required menstrual products to be available for free at one-half of all restrooms at all public schools serving grades 6 to 12, inclusive, and at least one bathroom on campus on all of California’s public colleges and universities.
(9) Under the leadership of Senate President pro Tempore Atkins, California began providing free menstrual products in State Capitol Building bathrooms in 2019.
(10) The Budget Act of 2021 funded the repeal of the period product tax, the “pink tax,” ensuring that people in California no longer have to pay sales tax on menstrual hygiene products.
(11) The Budget Act of 2021 also funded a $2,000,000 appropriation to support free menstrual product distributions as a pilot in the County of Los Angeles and the County of San Diego, and a report of that pilot is forthcoming.
(12) While California is proud to be home to some of the most impactful laws and policies to prevent period poverty, it is recognized that further action is needed to address this long-neglected problem.
(13) California has an interest in creating safe, welcoming, and inclusive spaces for all menstruating individuals.
(14) It is the intent of the Legislature that this act provide for the health, dignity, and safety of menstruating people at every socioeconomic level, normalize menstruation among all genders, and foster gender competency in California government buildings and hospitals.

SEC. 2.

 Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 24300) is added to Division 20 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
CHAPTER  3. Menstrual Product Accessibility

24300.
 (a) For purposes of this section:
(1) “Menstrual products” means menstrual pads and tampons for use in connection with the menstrual cycle.
(2) “State” includes any state agency or instrumentality.
(b) The state shall ensure access to menstrual products in a building owned by the state, or in the portion of a building where the state rents or leases office space, to all menstruating people, regardless of sex, by requiring all women’s restrooms and all all-gender restrooms, and at least one men’s restroom, to be stocked with menstrual products, available and accessible, to employees and the public, free of cost, at all times.
(c) A local government shall ensure access to menstrual products in a building owned by the local government to all menstruating people, regardless of sex, by requiring all women’s restrooms and all all-gender restrooms, and at least one men’s restroom, to be stocked with menstrual products, available and accessible, to employees and the public, free of cost, at all times, if any of the following state-funded safety net programs are administered in that building:
(1) The California Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
(2) The CalFresh program.
(3) The CalWORKs program.
(4) The Medi-Cal program.
(d) A hospital that receives state funds for construction of, or to administer or develop services and programs offered by the hospital, shall ensure access to menstrual products to all menstruating people, regardless of sex, by requiring all women’s restrooms and all all-gender restrooms, and at least one men’s restroom, to be stocked with menstrual products, available and accessible, to employees and the public, free of cost, at all times.
(e) This section does not prevent a building owned by the state or in the portion of a building where the state rents or leases office space, a building owned by a local government, or a hospital that receives state funding from providing more than the required amount of restrooms stocked with menstrual products free and accessible to all menstruating people entering or working the building.

SEC. 3.

 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.