FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, again proposed a bill Thursday that would eliminate sales tax on feminine hygiene products and increase funding for them in the state's public schools.
A similar bill, filed in early 2023, aimed at adding Kentucky to 24 states that do not charge sales tax on items including tampons, panty liners, menstrual cups, sanitary napkins and other feminine products. When yet another similar bill was introduced in 2022, the legislative fiscal note said consumers would save $2.3 million annually once fully implemented.
House Bill 148, the subject of Thursday's announcement, is an extension of those previous bills, aimed at addresses the financial burden and lack of menstrual supplies for women and students in Kentucky. It would require a menstrual discharge collection device to be placed, at no cost, in all public middle and high schools in Kentucky.
The bill asks for $2 million from the state. Willner said women spend about $120 a year on these products.
"This bill would require a small investment that would pay big dividends for Kentucky students," Willner said.
In August 2022, Louisville Metro Council asked state legislators to help decrease costs of necessities for children and women. Then-Mayor Greg Fischer signed two resolutions that called for Kentucky legislators to eliminate the state's sales tax on diapers and feminine hygiene products. Members of Metro Council sponsored the resolution that would eliminate a 6% sales tax on the items.
Fischer said at the time that Fortune Magazine reported that women in the United States spend an extra $150 million a year on sales taxes placed on period products, and one in four women have struggled to pay for those products in 2021.
The city, of course, doesn't have the power to locally change sales tax.
Thursday afternoon in Frankfort, Willner was joined by representatives from Period Ya'll, Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and ACLU Kentucky at the press conference.
Skylar Davis, founder of Period Ya'll, a Kentucky organization focused on "fighting period poverty in Appalachia and Kentucky," called the bill a "leap in the right direction."
"Kentucky doesn't need to be left behind any longer," she said. "Though small, it is a percentage of people's income, and things are expensive right now. And it also ensures students don't feel ashamed when they go to school, and I think that does not have a price tag.
"If we care about our students and we care about the folks in Kentucky, then we really should pass this."
Willner said Kentucky is currently in the minority of states who still profit by taxing medically, necessary period products.
"It is frustrating that we are one of the states that continues it," she said Thursday. "The fact that there has been bipartisan interest in this issue, the fact that we are increasing the conversation, that we have expanded the bill that we filed last year, I like to think we are moving forward on this issue and I like to think we are moving closer to a solution."Â
- Mercy Academy students travel to Frankfort to support dropping sales tax on feminine products
- Metro Council asks state to eliminate sales tax on diapers, feminine hygiene products
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