FRANKFORT, Ky. — Two bills have been introduced to address access to period products in school.
House Bill 148 would provide funding to middle and high schools throughout the state to have period products. It also removes sales tax from menstrual products.
Senate Bill 38 would require public schools to provide free products to students from fourth to 12th grade.
According to Thinx & PERIOD, 84% of students in the U.S. have either missed class or know someone who missed class due to not having access to period products.
“We’ve heard that for generations, Kentuckians have been going through and experiencing period poverty and this is a chance to alleviate that," said Skylar Davis, founder of Period Y'all, an organization that distributes period products through the Garrard County Food Pantry and also provides them to schools.
Davis, along with several others, participated in a Menstrual Equity Lobby Day Wednesday at the state Capitol in Frankfort.
Those in attendance included 14-year-old Rosie Katz, who raised more than $1,000 for period products and two dispensers at Tates Creek Middle School for an eighth-grade community project. State Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, reached out to Katz the summer after she completed eighth grade to work on HB 148 together.
“I think it’s important that kids my age come advocate for the things that they believe about so that the adults here can understand what we’re going through and our struggles as well,” Katz said.
Attendees discussed the bills and made postcards to give out to legislators.
Middle school students from the Francis Parker School of Louisville participated and met with Willner to talk about HB 148 and period poverty. Willner told the group that the house bill has yet to be assigned to a committee, but even if it doesn't go through, she is in this for the long haul.