YOUTH Congress Speaker Cielo Citlalli Long has introduced Youth Congress Bill 18-05 to require all public schools in elementary, middle and high schools to provide free access to feminine hygiene products in all female public restroom facilities.
A student of Tinian Jr.-Sr. High School, Long said women in the CNMI “are held at a significant disadvantage during their menstrual cycle.”
With free access to menstrual hygiene products in public schools in the CNMI, she said, “a permanent solution is provided to students who deal with the struggle of period poverty, which can be defined as inadequate access to menstrual hygiene products, including but not limited to, sanitary products, washing facilities, and waste management due to financial hardships.”
According to her bill, the Public School System “shall make menstrual hygiene products available, at no cost to students, in all-gender designed bathrooms, if any, of every school building. If a school building does not have an all-gender bathroom, menstrual hygiene products shall be available in at least one female designated bathroom at a school building.”
The bill also proposes to require the Bureau of Environmental Health to regularly inspect all public school buildings to ensure compliance. BEH would promulgate regulations to implement the Act if it becomes law.
A person in charge of the school building found in violation of the Act “shall, upon issuance of notice, be fined and penalized.” For the first offense, the fine is up to $500 and for the second offense, up to $1,000.
Bills passed by the Youth Congress, which has five members, are forwarded to the governor and the presiding officers of the Legislature “for disposition.”
Cielo Citlalli Long
