FRANKFORT, Ky. (WDRB) — Nearly one in four students in the United States struggle to pay for period supplies. And one Kentucky lawmaker hopes to get free pads and tampons into schools across the commonwealth.

Melia Collins, a 10th grader at Grace M. James Academy of Excellence in Louisville, was among dozens of girls who rallied Thursday at the Kentucky Capitol to urge lawmakers to pass House Bill 95. 

"You can get bullied if you don't have that type of stuff," Collins said. "It can be very emotionally distressing."

HB 95 would require each public school in Kentucky that includes students in grades 6-12 to:

  • Provide free menstrual products to students
  • Require each local board of education to adopt policies for the distribution of free menstrual products
  • Define "menstrual products"
  • Appropriate to the Learning and Results Services budget unit within the Department of Education $2 million in each fiscal year from 2026-28 to provide menstrual products to students

"These students deserve more," said Rosalind Jones, an 8th grader at Francis Parker School of Louisville. "People can die from infections caused by a lack of period supplies."

A few all-girl schools in the state, including Grace James, already provide menstrual supplies to their students. Some teens said it's "been a godsend."

"This is not a luxury," Rosalind said. "This is a bare necessity, like toilet paper or soap."

Students who don't have access to pads and tampons can often miss work and class. One middle school student argued lawmakers should back HB 95 because "we should value girls' education."

"And when they don't want to come to school, what? They're not learning," Collins said. "That's bad for our future."

If passed, Kentuckians would foot the bill. HB 95 requests $2 million a year. That money would come from the state's General Fund.

Kentucky is one of more than a dozen states with a "pink tax." That's a 6% state sales tax on menstrual products.

One in 5 women and girls between the age of 12 and 44 in Kentucky live below the Federal Poverty Level. Assistance programs such as WIC and SNAP benefits don't cover period supplies, which bill advocates said is "inhumane" and "degrading."

"Folks are regularly considering if they're going to buy diapers or food or if they're going to buy period products," said Candice Crawford, founder of For Lady's Sake.

State Rep. Lisa Willner, D-Louisville, said this issue extends beyond the bathroom. She said it's about health and education. However, HB 95 hasn't moved this legislative session.

"Here are students telling us what they need," she said. "The fact that we're not even having these conversations is extremely frustrating."

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