FRANKFORT, Ky. — Lawmakers in Frankfort are starting the 2024 session with a renewed focus to eliminate what some call “period poverty” in Kentucky. Currently, Kentucky still has a sales tax on tampons, pads and other women’s health products, but a Louisville representative hopes to change that.
State Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, introduced HB 148 Thursday afternoon, which has two primary objectives: eliminating the sale’s tax on menstrual products, and requiring middle and high schools to make the products available for use.
Prior to Thursday’s session, Willner joined advocate groups from across Kentucky supporting the bill who say women’s periods are not a red or blue issue.
Skylar Davis, founder of Period Y’all, says it’s time to end the stigma surrounding a natural occurrence in women’s bodies. Davis was one of several advocates that joined Willner for a press conference.
“Generations of women have told stories of the same thing, they go to school, they’re terrified they’re going to start their period, or they miss school because they don’t have the products they need. This has been happening for generation after generation,” Davis said.
Davis founded Period Y’all as a way to provide tampons, pads and other products to menstruating women in Garrard County. It started as a pop up at the local food pantry and grew to include women’s products in schools and the library.
“For most of my life, I grew up without a grocery store so the only real access we had to period products were at a Dollar General and folks were having to drive 10 plus minutes away to get that, and that’s just hard to do if you don’t have transportation,” Davis said.
Advocates say lack of access to period products for middle and high school girls contributes to Kentucky’s absenteeism issue due to girls feeling ashamed of having to ask. Willner’s bill would allocate $2 million for schools to provide products for free and in 50% of female, unisex or family bathrooms in each school building.
“My understanding and from speaking with students is the typical scenario is that if you need a product that you would have to go to the FRYSC (Family Resource Youth Services Center) office or you might go to your teacher and whisper often, ‘Do you have anything?’” Willner said.
Willner said Kentucky is in the minority of states with a tampon tax.
“I think it’s a fundamental injustice, this is a tax affects roughly half of the population and doesn’t affect the other half,” Willner said.
She expects the bill to gain bipartisan support; a similar bill eliminating the pink tax was introduced by Republican Kim Banta, R-Fort Mitchell, on Tuesday.
Willner says she has spoken with Republicans on the issue and the appropriations committee. If it doesn’t pass this session, she hopes to move it closer to passing in a future session.
Twenty-one states, including Kentucky, still tax on tampons, meaning 29 states have no tax on women’s hygiene products. Texas was the latest state to slash the tampon tax. That occurred in September of last year.