YourVoice.Now Summary
Your MoneyWorkers & JobsCivil LibertiesCriminal Justice & Due ProcessTransparency & AccountabilityTargeted & Unrelated ProvisionsEnds state sales tax on pads and tampons, and makes them free in schools, prisons, large workplaces, and on Medicaid.
Your Money
No state or city could tax the retail sale of pads, tampons, liners, cups, or period underwear. The ban would start 120 days after the bill became law.
Period products would be added to the list of items Medicaid pays for. Coverage would begin the first full quarter one year after signing, though some states would need to pass their own law first.
The Social Services Block Grant would rise to $1.9 billion for 2026 through 2029. Of that, $200 million a year is set aside to buy and hand out free products for people with low incomes.
Products or benefits a family gets under this program would be ignored when other federal aid is figured. Food, health, and cash programs could not count it against them.
States and counties could win grants to help families that qualify for cash aid buy period products. Congress would put in $10 million a year starting in 2026, with no end date.
Workers & Jobs
The Labor Department would have to write a workplace rule covering employers with 100 or more workers. Those employers would have to keep free period products on hand for staff.
Civil Liberties
States would confirm each year that no one is turned away from a prison visit because they use a period product. It is part of the same yearly report that covers products for prisoners.
Homeland Security would have to give free period products to every person it holds in immigration detention. That includes people held in privately run facilities.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
Each state would report every year that everyone in its prisons and jails can get free products whenever they ask, starting 180 days after signing. The Bureau of Prisons would do the same for federal prisoners, including those in private facilities.
A state that skips the yearly report would lose 20 percent of its main federal police grant (the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant) the next year. That money would be split among the states that did report.
Transparency & Accountability
The $200 million a year runs only through 2029. Congress would have to pass a new law to keep the money flowing after that.
The Department of Health and Human Services would study whether the program cut unmet need among low-income families. The report goes to Congress by March 2032 and onto the agency website by April 30, 2032.
Targeted & Unrelated Provisions
Up to 2 percent of the $200 million, about $4 million a year, would be held back for a deal with a single nonprofit. It would run training and help administer the program, and states have no claim to that money.
More about this bill
States and cities could no longer charge sales tax on pads, tampons, cups, or period underwear. That ban would start 120 days after the bill was signed. A year after signing, Medicaid would begin covering period products for the people it insures. Workers at companies with 100 or more staff would get free products at work. The Labor Department would write that rule. Federal buildings open to the public would have to keep free products in every public restroom. Public schools could spend federal grant money they already get on products for students. Colleges could compete for $5 million in new grants, split among at least four schools. At least half of those grants would go to community colleges. Homeless shelters could use federal emergency grant money for products as well. A new fund would add $200 million a year from 2026 through 2029. States would pass it to charities, tribes, and local agencies that give products out. Another $10 million a year would help families on cash aid buy their own. Taking this help would not lower a family's other federal benefits. States would have to confirm every year that people in their prisons and jails can get products free, on request. A state that did not would lose 20 percent of its federal police grant money the next year. That money would go to states that did confirm. Federal prisons and immigration detention centers would face the same duty, including privately run ones. Visitors could not be turned away from a prison because they are using a period product.
Congressional Summary
This bill expands access to menstrual products (e.g., tampons) in certain locations and for particular groups, such as in schools and for low-income individuals, through federal programs and requirements. It also prohibits state or local sales taxes for these products. The bill expands access to menstrual products through federal programs byrequiring Medicaid to cover such products,establishing grants within the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to provide benefits to ensure access to such products,authorizing the Emergency Food and Shelter Program to provide menstrual products to homeless individuals, andincreasing Social Services Block Grant funding to provide such products to low-income individuals.Also, the bill sets out requirements to make free menstrual products available in federal and state correctional facilities (including Department of Homeland Security detention facilities) and restrooms in federal buildings that are open to the public.Further, the bill (1) establishes grants to provide free menstrual products to students at institutions of higher education, and (2) permits elementary and secondary schools to use certain grant funds to provide menstrual products to students.In addition, the bill requires employers with at least 100 employees to provide free menstrual products for employees.Finally, the bill prohibits states and local governments from taxing retail sales of menstrual products.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-05-29
- Date Added
- 2026-04-17
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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