THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	78
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF ACCOUNTING AND GENERAL SERVICES TO PROVIDE MENSTRUAL PRODUCTS AT NO COST IN state buildings under the JURISDICTION of the department of accounting and general services that are open to the public and contain public restrooms.

WHEREAS, period poverty has negative effects on a person's ability to meet basic necessities, gender equality, access to education and employment, and public health; and

WHEREAS, a growing number of menstruating girls, women, and gender-diverse persons are at risk due to the absence of readily available aid and financial support; and

WHEREAS, period poverty and menstrual inequity result directly from socioeconomic, gender, and racial injustices, as recognized in the November 2021 report co-authored by the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women and Mai‘i Movement Hawai‘i; and

WHEREAS, the report noted that the State's exceptionally high cost of living and wage gap for women specifically exacerbate period poverty, with nearly thirty percent of respondents reporting that they or a household member experienced difficulty obtaining menstrual products, with cost being the most cited reason; and

WHEREAS, recent data collected by the United States Census Bureau for the Household Pulse Survey indicated 43.8 percent of Hawaii households reported struggling to pay for usual household expenses in the last seven days; and

WHEREAS, viewed within the context of many families' struggles to pay for living expenses, the ongoing need to purchase menstrual products for approximately forty years consumes a disproportionate amount of the menstruating person's financial resources compared to a non-menstruating person; and

WHEREAS, providing free menstrual products in public buildings would reduce health risks, alleviate the burden of period poverty, and protect the dignity of all menstruating people; and

WHEREAS, access to free menstrual products would also ensure inclusive and equitable access to public facilities, reduce barriers faced by residents and visitors to state buildings in meeting basic needs, and promote greater menstrual equity in the State; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that the Department of Accounting and General Services is requested to help members of the public, regardless of their gender or biology, have access to essential hygiene products by providing menstrual products at no cost in state buildings under the jurisdiction of the Department of Accounting and General Services that are open to the public and contain public restrooms; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Accounting and General Services is requested to maintain a stock of menstrual products, free of charge, in every women's restroom and every gender-neutral restroom of a state building under the jurisdiction of the Department of Accounting and General Services that is open to the public and contains a public restroom; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Accounting and General Services is requested to install in each of these restrooms a dispenser or similar device for the provision of free menstrual products; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, if a state building has no gender-neutral restroom, the Department of Accounting and General Services is requested to provide free menstrual products in at least one men's restroom of that state building and place signage in the remaining men's restrooms of that state building to indicate the location of free menstrual products; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the Comptroller.

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Menstrual Equity; Menstrual Products; Department of Accounting and General Services; State Buildings; Restrooms