FRANKFORT, Ky. — State Sen. Cassie Chambers Armstrong, D-Louisville, shared a plan with state lawmakers to make infant and adult diapers tax-exempt in Kentucky to help families struggling with high costs.

Chambers Armstrong said she would file the bill in next year’s legislative session.

“It has a simple purpose: Make diapers more affordable for families in Kentucky,” she said in a meeting in Frankfort for the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue.

According to Chambers Armstrong, families can spend up to $2,000 a year on diapers in Kentucky. A current draft of her proposed legislation would make diapers exempt from the state’s sales and use tax beginning Aug. 1, 2024. A fiscal impact report estimates the bill would decrease the general fund by $6.1 million.

“Some families resort to washing and reusing disposable diapers, turning them inside out or leaving their child in the same diaper all day hoping that child won’t develop a severe enough diaper rash that they will need to go to the hospital,” she said. 

Currently, 18 other states and Washington D.C. have made diapers sales tax-exempt, according to the National Diaper Bank.

The bill would also help adults and caregivers of adults with disabilities and other health issues that require the use of an adult diaper, Chambers Armstrong explained.

The next meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue is currently scheduled for Oct. 18 at 1 p.m. The 2024 legislative session begins Jan. 2.