Florida

Proposal Summary

Florida Menstrual Products in Public Spaces Act

Bill

Provision of Free Menstrual Products in Public Restrooms.

Bill requirements:

Mandating all public restrooms statewide to provide free menstrual products.
- This includes public schools that must provide free menstrual products in bathrooms to students.
Covered Products
- Pads.
- Tampons.
- Menstrual cups.
- Menstrual underwear and reusable pads.
Products should be hypoallergenic and safe for all users, meaning that all products comply with a list of ingredients (see definitions section for ingredient list).

Scope of Legislation:

Menstrual products should be available in all public facilities (including schools (K–12), universities, libraries, government offices, transit hubs, etc.)

Specifications:

Pads

Disclose all intentionally added ingredients, including those in coatings and adhesives.
100% Cotton top layer.
Core layer - 100% Cotton or Wood Pulp / Cellulose that is rayon-free and TCF or unbleached.
Fragrance-free.
No nanomaterials.
No antimicrobial additives.
Totally Chlorine-free (TCF) bleaching process or unbleached (Note: elemental chlorine free, or ECF, does not qualify).
Carbon Disulfide-free.

Tampons

Disclose all intentionally added ingredients, including those in coatings and adhesives.
100% cotton.
Recycled cardboard applicator or none.
Fragrance-free.
No nanomaterials.
No antimicrobial additives.
Totally Chlorine-free (TCF) bleaching process or unbleached (Note: elemental chlorine free, or ECF, does not qualify).
Carbon Disulfide-free.

Menstrual cups

Menstrual underwear & reusable pads

Disclose all intentionally added ingredients, including those in coatings and dyes.
No intentionally added PFAS.
Non-disposable.
No silver or other antibacterial coating treatments.

Implementation

To be announced.

Definitions

Elemental Chlorine-Free (ECF) bleaching – a wood pulp bleaching technique that uses chlorine dioxide, but not elemental chlorine gas.
Fragrance – a substance or combination of chemicals that imparts an odor or scent or is designed to counteract an odor. Fragrance ingredients may be synthetic, derived from petroleum or natural raw materials.
Nanomaterials – Chemical substances or materials with particle sizes between 1 to 100 nanometers in at least one dimension. Common nanomaterials include, but are not limited to nano-silver, titanium dioxide, Azo pigments, synthetic amorphous silica and iron oxide.
Nano-silver is also classified as an antimicrobial and is found in some pads and menstrual underwear.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) - A class of fluorinated organic chemicals containing at least one fully fluorinated carbon atom.
Totally Chlorine-Free (TCF) bleaching – Wood pulp bleaching operations that are performed without the use of chlorine, sodium hypochlorite, calcium hypochlorite, chlorine dioxide, chlorine monoxide, or any other chlorine-containing compound.