HB8 is Pre-filed!
Rep. Debbie Buckner pre-filed, HB8, the 2019 Menstrual Product Tax Elimination Bill
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November Coalition Summit Meeting
Rep. Debbie Buckner and Sen. Tonya Anderson with some of the participants in the November 30th Coalition Summit.
November 30th, members of Georgia STOMP assembled in Macon for a second time to discuss the coalition’s progress during the six months since its May meeting. The group had grown, with additional legislators, an energized Junior League presence, the addition of League of Women Voters – Macon and period supply groups in Georgia, and strengthened college representation.
Whereas the focus of the May meeting was strictly on the elimination of Georgia’s sales tax, the discussions in November expanded to include a wide range of issues related to period poverty, menstrual equity and facilitating access in public facilities, particularly schools, prisons and following natural disasters.
The coalition officially adopted the name Georgia STOMP (Stop Tax On Menstrual Products) and its logo, designed by Rubi McGrory of Project Period – Savannah.
Priorities for 2019:
- Elimination of State Sales Tax on Menstrual Products – carried by Rep. Debbie Buckner.
- School Pilot Study to show needs of students in Georgia public schools – carried by Rep. Kim Schofield.
- Work with GEMA to align the list of basic-needs supplies eligible for purchase with their funds after an emergency with FEMA’s list, and meet with GEMA leadership to assist supply chain and storage of period products after a disaster.
GEMA Rule Change – Rep. Buckner Report
A Report This Morning from Rep. Debbie Buckner:
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to relate the need to change the GEMA rules to mirror the FEMA rules to Appropriations Chair Rep Terry England at a meeting with the Governor’s Chief of staff Chris Riley yesterday. When I explained the importance of including menstrual products as a part of the Basic Human Needs package in GEMA’s operation plan, Riley suggested arranging a meeting with Director Home Bryson to discuss further.
That meeting was held this morning at 9:30. I gave Director Bryson a copy of the documents Adele Stewart assembled and he agreed to have his attorney review and draft potential rule changes for his board to present at their next meeting.
Director Bryson then talked about the need to work with volunteers to improve GEMA’s service delivery system in the future. Bryson would like to meet with representatives of GeorgiaSTOMP in the future to discuss ways to better meet basic human needs of women during times of emergencies.
He also promised to notify me what and when the changes are adopted.
I think this is good news!
Rep. Jones, Oliver, Anulewicz, Burnough, Gardner, & Dempsey were all very helpful with this effort!
Meet the Author: Allison Yarrow
On Monday, November 5th, a crowd gathered at Congregation Sha’arey Israel in central Georgia to hear Macon native, now award winning journalist, Allison Yarrow, discuss the research compiled in her book 90’s Bitch: Media Culture and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality. Yarrow is an award-winning journalist and National Magazine Award finalist who has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Vox, and many other publications. She was a TED resident and is a grantee of the International Women’s Media Foundation. She produced the VICE documentary Misconception and has appeared on the Today show, MSNBC, NPR, and more. The engaging conversation was timely in light of the current political climate, the #metoo movement, and the controversial Kavanaugh hearing.
Attendees were requested to bring period supply products for local students as Claire Cox, President of Georgia Women spoke to the audience about Period Poverty and Period Equity issues in the state of Georgia. Those gathered were among the first to know that, although Georgia STOMP’s work began as an effort to eliminate sales tax from menstrual products in Georgia, the focus has grown, and while it still includes, tax elimination, we now seek to advocate on behalf of students missing school because of period poverty, inmates not being given the supplies they need, and for the needs of ALL of our citizens to be supplied in public facilities. Claire asked the audience, “have you thought about the fact that we provide soap and water and TP, but not what women need? Or did you know that period poverty is real here in the US, not just overseas?”
The Georgia STOMP logo was first unveiled and dozens of packages of pads and tampons were collected to distribute to students in Bibb County public schools, a school system with such a high rate of poverty among its students that the system maintains a 100% qualification level for the Free & Reduced Lunch program. As Claire reminded the audience, “If a young woman can’t afford food, she almost certainly cannot afford menstrual products.”
Georgia STOMP Coalition Stakeholders Attend Inaugural National Summit for Period Leadership
October is a busy month – completing work before the holidays, getting out the vote (vote! vote! vote!), ongoing advocacy initiatives, the list goes on! One thing is for certain: our coalition works hard to take every opportunity to gather, learn, and re-energize.
On October 24, we were able to do so at the first-ever National Summit for Period Leadership, hosted by the Alliance for Period Supplies. Our coalition was lucky to have organizers and advocates from all over the US attend this event – hosted in our very own capital city #ATL! Alongside the other 100+ attendees, we were able to learn talking points and best practices from organizations who have been busy advocating for and meeting the basic hygienic needs of those in their communities.
Board members of the Alliance for Period Supplies, allied organizations, and some of our coalition members after the Summit.
We were able to learn about how organizations approach distributing products in institutions, like schools or homeless shelters, and how researchers at UNC are addressing the dearth of studies present in the literature about anything related to menstruation or access to period supplies. We learned that there’s really a difference between feminine hygiene products and menstrual hygiene products when used academically (products used for douching vs. products used to manage periods, respectively). We also learned about poverty as a whole, including temporary or situational poverty, something many of our fellow Georgians are unfortunately experiencing in the wake of the recent Hurricanes. Particularly of interest to our group was how poverty makes managing one’s period even more difficult – in ways you wouldn’t necessarily expect!
After the summit, we sat down as a group with some leaders in the space working to #EndPeriodPoverty. One of the most beautiful parts of advocacy work, we are finding, is the amount of help organizations are willing to give one another to in order to change the status quo. We surely wouldn’t be where we are as a coalition without it!
Claire Cox, Rep. Debbie Buckner, Adele Stewart
International Day of the Girl: Human rights and Menstruation
Did you know that the International Day of the Girl is on October 11 this year? We’re a week out from this incredible celebration, and so naturally top of our minds are the women and girls are such an important part of Georgia STOMP’s work. We encourage all of our friends, family and supporters to take a moment and maybe stop by a local celebration (like this AWESOME day planned by our friends at the Center for Civil and Human Rights) or celebrate the day in your own way – maybe by speaking up in support of human rights for people around the world!
Have you ever thought about how having a period might affect your life, or the life of women and girls across the world, on a grand scale? For example: It’s completely normal and healthy for many of us to have our periods once a month. To manage them in a healthy way, we need supplies like pads, tampons, cups or period panties. And you know:
– There’s no shame in your body doing what it does, it’s healthy.
– We all need certain things to live a healthy life – like food, water, shelter, and for women and girls – period supplies!
– People around the world agree: health is a human right.
Even though periods are a normal, healthy part of life, sometimes laws, programs, or cultures don’t support menstruators and their rights to manage their periods with dignity. In order for women and girls to pursue their human rights, like education and health, we all need to speak up and support menstrual equity.
How can you fix that?
USE YOUR VOICE!
We’re raising our voices to start by eliminating the sales tax on menstrual hygiene products.
- Under current Georgia law, menstrual products are taxed at the full 4%.
- We believe period products should be tax exempt like groceries, prescriptions, personal medical devices, hearing aids and prosthetics.
- These FDA Class 2 medical devices are unavoidable necessities. They are not an optional purchase and are required for a menstruator’s physical health.
- There is no male equivalence.
- This is an education and economic issue. Economically disadvantaged women in our state miss school and work for lack of access to essential products.
It’s important to keep in mind that in addition to having women having to shoulder this tax, great financial disparity exists between men and women in this state:
- Georgia women rank 46th in the nation using 15 metrics across three main areas including Workplace environment, Education and Health, and Political Environment.
- 1 in 5 Georgia women live in poverty (20% vs 12% of Georgia men)
- 2/3 of minimum wage jobs are held by women.
- Women in Georgia make 81% of what men make.
Join us to demand that Georgia repeal the menstrual product state tax – it is discriminatory and should be eliminated!
Advocacy Can Be Intimidating…Period
Learning about how a bill is passed, informing yourself about menstrual equity, calling your representatives, having uncomfortable conversations with folks about period products – all of these things make up the pieces of the advocacy puzzle when it comes to the menstrual hygiene tax. Doesn’t exactly sound like a blast, we know.
What we ALSO know is how amazing it is to be part of a group of people making changes for the better, and how critical it is for us to raise our voices when something simply isn’t right. The inequitable sales tax on menstrual hygiene products is, in our opinion, one of those things.
Advocating for yourself and others is empowering, and there’s a top-of-the-mountain high when you make a great connection or get to “yes” with someone you didn’t think would support your initiative.
“When the whole world is silent, even one voice becomes powerful.” — Malala Yousafzai.
But once you decide to speak up, how can you get to that “yes”? Easy! Inform yourself, and ask questions. We all stand on the shoulders of advocacy giants who came before us. Here are a few easy steps to get started:
- You’re already there! Welcome to the Georgia STOMP site.
- Sign up for our email list – we’ll keep you posted when it’s time to make a 2 minute phone call to your representative, or coyly slide in menstrual hygiene products into conversation at the water cooler.
- We LOVE following hashtags – like #EndPeriodPoverty, #MenstrualEquity, #TamponTax, and #femininehygienetax – on social media platforms or with Google Alerts. The internet, in this case, is your friend!
- We also LOVE following our Coalition members on social media platforms. Go to our Coalition page and find the groups in your area!
Coalition Summit Meeting: May 2018
On May 29th 2018, an energized group of growing coalition leadership attended a summit in Macon to assess the 2018 legislative session and plan for 2019. Legislators and grassroots leaders revised talking points and brainstormed additional allies and strategies.
HB731 Conclusion
HB 731, eliminating state sales tax on feminine hygiene products, did not make it beyond Crossover Day and is thus dead for the 2018 Legislative session.
Sponsored by a statewide coalition of women’s groups, spearheaded by Georgia Women (And Those Who Stand With Us) and including the Junior Leagues of Georgia State Public Affairs Committee, this bill sought a remedy for an obvious inequity: women, who are already at an economic disadvantage in our state, are taxed on a product that is a necessity, not a choice, and for which there is no male equivalency. Feminine hygiene products are classified as medical devices by the FDA and our state legislature has given exemptions to similar items in the past.
In a year when we gave big corporations and tobacco users tax reductions, why could this easy fix to an unfair tax on women not be made? At a time when gubernatorial candidates were calling for a sales tax holiday on guns and ammo, who was thinking about the mothers and daughters in our state?
This bill enjoyed strong bipartisan support (4 R and 3 D Original Signers) and much appreciation is due to Rep. Debbie Buckner and Rep. Allen Peake for their leadership on this issue.
Our coalition is absolutely returning to the legislature next year.
Perhaps we need to send some more women to ATL in 2019!
HB731 Subcommittee Hearing
On February 12, 2018 a team from Georgia Women spent the morning at the Capitol “Working the Ropes” for HB 731. At 1:00 pm, the group proceeded to the Tax Reform Subcommittee Meeting of the House Appropriations Committee. Claire Cox (Georgia Women), Adele Stewart (Junior League of Savannah) and Helen Robinson (YWCA – Greater ATL), along with a representative for the Convenience Store Association of Georgia, spoke in support of the bill. No one testified in opposition. Rep. Buckner and Rep. Peake, both members of the subcommittee fought hard for the bill, but opposition was strong. The subcommittee was not allowed to vote on the bill, because, despite Buckner’s requesting it several weeks before, the Fiscal Note that must accompany legislation had not yet been delivered to the Subcommittee Chairman. Buckner received a copy of it (dated February 9, 2018) the next day from Rep. Powell. Following the hearing, our grassroots group was told by subcommittee leadership that we would not get a second hearing and the bill would not be brought to a vote before Crossover Day on February 28th.