In committee
Menstrual Equity For All Act of 2025
This bill expands access to menstrual products nationwide by requiring employers with at least 100 workers, federal public buildings, and prisons and detention facilities to provide them for free. It also prohibits state and local sales taxes on menstrual items and requires Medicaid to cover them. In addition, the measure creates federal grants and funding streams so schools, colleges, homeless shelters, and low-income assistance programs can distribute free menstrual products.
People affected—Not determinable from the text provided; impacts broad overlapping populations including Medicaid recipients, employees at firms with 100+ workers, incarcerated persons, and consumers subject to sales taxes nationwide.
Fiscal magnitude—no CBO estimate published
Reach80provisional · pending reviewrigor: heuristic llm
What this bill touches.
Sentencing & corrections+30Government role in coverage+35Overall tax level−25Federal vs. state/local+45Welfare & anti-poverty+45Workplace standards+35
Who it helps · who it burdens.
Who it helps
- Individuals who menstruateGain access to free menstrual products through schools, colleges, Medicaid coverage, federal public restrooms, and assistance programs, and pay no state or local sales tax on retail purchases (Sec. 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12).
- Incarcerated individuals and immigration detaineesReceive menstrual products on demand and at no cost while in state prisons, local jails, federal correctional facilities, or immigration detention (Sec. 5(a), (e), (f)).
- Medicaid beneficiariesGain access to menstrual products as a mandatory covered benefit under Medicaid (Sec. 7(a)).
- Colleges and universitiesEligible higher education institutions—prioritizing community colleges and minority-serving institutions—can receive competitive grants from an authorized $5 million program to provide free campus menstrual products (Sec. 4(b)-(h)).
Who it burdens
- Employers with 100 or more employeesMust provide menstrual products free of charge to all employees under new federal workplace safety regulations (Sec. 8).
- State and local governmentsAre prohibited from levying retail sales taxes on menstrual products and risk losing 20 percent of federal Byrne JAG grant funding if they fail to provide free menstrual products to all state and local detainees (Sec. 5(a)-(c), Sec. 11(a)).
- State Medicaid agenciesRequired to add menstrual products to mandatory medical assistance coverage under their State Medicaid plans (Sec. 7(a)-(b)).
- Federal facility and custodial administratorsMust stock free menstrual products in all restrooms open to the public in federal buildings, and federal prison and immigration authorities must provide free products to all prisoners and detainees (Sec. 5(e)-(f), Sec. 9(a)).
Who backs it
- U.S. TreasuryProvides $200 million annually (FY 2026–2029) for Social Services Block Grants and $10 million annually starting in FY 2026 for TANF-related grants from unappropriated Treasury funds (Sec. 10(a)(2)(A), Sec. 12(a)(6)(F)).