SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) Menstrual products, including tampons, pads, and menstrual cups, are the only gender-specific items in California’s tax laws.
(b) Menstrual products are not luxuries, and, in fact, are necessary health products for menstruating women to participate in society.
(c) The goal of exempting tampons, pads, and menstrual cups from the sales and use tax laws is to bring gender equity to California’s tax laws.
(d) Each year, California women pay over $20 million in taxes on menstrual products. That money, paid as taxes, belongs in the pockets of California women.
(e) The sales and use tax laws exempt items that are deemed “necessities of life,” such as food and medicine.
(f) The fact that there are no other examples of an essential health product within the state tax laws that one gender must use each month for 40 years of life speaks to the outdated nature of the tax laws.