Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Menstrual Products Access topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Mass. Senate unanimously approves free menstrual products in schools, jails and shelters
Summary
The Massachusetts Senate voted unanimously Oct. 16 to pass legislation requiring free disposable menstrual products at public schools, prisons and homeless shelters, backing organizers and a statewide nonprofit that has received state funding.
The Massachusetts Senate on Oct. 16, 2025, voted unanimously to pass an act to increase access to disposable menstrual products by making disposable menstrual products available at no cost in prisons, homeless shelters and and public elementary and secondary schools. Sen. Joanne M. Comerford spoke on behalf of the bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Patricia D. Jalen of Somerville, and Sen. Patrick M. O’Connor urged support while describing a statewide nonprofit’s work to distribute products.
The bill, often called the “I Am” bill in debate, aims to ensure an “adequate supply of free products” in the covered settings, Comerford said, and to protect students and other menstruators from unpredictable access. “Access to menstrual products varies from setting to setting due to a lack of resources, capacity,” Comerford said on the floor, adding the variability can leave middle-school students anxious and homeless-shelter residents without predictable supplies.
Why it matters: advocates and lawmakers framed the bill as a response to “period poverty” and uneven local provision of supplies in institutions. Sen. O’Connor noted the role of the nonprofit Free Period and described state funding that, he said, has supported distribution infrastructure across the Commonwealth.
Lawmakers detailed recent state investments in the nonprofit Free Period while arguing for a statewide requirement. According to remarks on the floor, the Senate previously provided $25,000 in fiscal 2022 and $20,000 in fiscal 2023; the chamber supported a $500,000 investment in fiscal 2024 and an additional $500,000 in the fiscal 2025 supplemental budget. O’Connor said Free Period has distributed 3.5 million feminine-hygiene products across the Commonwealth to date.
The Senate adopted an amendment offered by Sen. Michael J. Rodericks before ordering the bill to a third reading; after the roll call the clerk recorded 39 votes in the affirmative and none in the negative and the bill was passed to be engrossed. The president will sign the measure and it will be laid before the governor for approval.
The debate on the floor included recognition of student organizers, local school districts and municipal programs that already provide free products; sponsors said the statewide law would set consistent expectations for supply in schools, shelters and correctional facilities. The bill does not specify details of distribution logistics in the text debated on the floor; sponsors noted existing municipal and nonprofit programs as implementation models.
The Senate’s action sends the bill to final enactment procedures; the transcript records that the bill will be signed by the president of the Senate and transmitted to the governor’s office for approbation.
