THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	27
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023		S.D. 1
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

Urging the University of Hawaii System to provide menstrual products, free of charge, to students at all of its university, community college, and education center campuses AS PART OF A PUBLIC HEALTH AND EDUCATION EQUITY STRATEGY THAT ADDRESSES ECONOMIC DISPARITIES.

WHEREAS, the University of Hawaii is statutorily prohibited from depriving the privileges of the University to a person on the basis of sex; and

WHEREAS, eighty percent of menstruating students in the State experience difficulties accessing menstrual products; and

WHEREAS, menstruating students unable to access menstrual products face a significant barrier to education that biologically male students do not, as a lack of access to menstrual products can limit full educational participation and negatively impact a student's access to learning; and

WHEREAS, "period poverty", or the inability to access menstrual products, disproportionately affects menstruating students, members of low-income households, individuals who identify as nonbinary or transgender, and many other groups of individuals; and

WHEREAS, according to a 2021 study conducted by the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women and Mai Movement Hawaii, lack of access to menstrual products contributes to higher rates of school absenteeism in the State, with forty-two percent of respondents missing class or leaving school early due to lack of access to menstrual products, and some missing as many as ten days per academic year due to a lack of access to menstrual products; and

WHEREAS, chronic absenteeism is one of the most powerful indicators of student success or failure; and

WHEREAS, a midyear assessment of Mai Movement Hawaii's 2021 Hoohanohano Initiative, a pilot project that distributes menstrual products to students at certain schools on the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai, found convincing evidence that free menstrual products have positive educational impacts and decreased the number of students who missed at least one school day due to lack of access to menstrual products by more than fifty percent; and

WHEREAS, the University of Hawaii should uphold educational and gender equity by providing free menstrual products to all persons utilizing University restrooms; and

WHEREAS, beginning in the fall semester of 2018, the Alpha Kappa Psi chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society at Kapiolani Community College, of their own volition, used chapter dues, University of Hawaii Women's Campus Club grant funds, and Kapiolani Community College Student Congress grant monies to successfully implement a pilot program that provides menstrual products, free of charge, in Kapiolani Community College restrooms; and

WHEREAS, the University of Hawaii at Hilo, of its own volition, also implemented a program that provides menstrual products, free of charge, in campus restrooms and, based on this program, has estimated the cost of continued distribution of these products; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the House of Representatives concurring, that the University of Hawaii System is urged to provide menstrual products, free of charge, to students at all of its university, community college, and education center campuses as part of a public health and education equity strategy that addresses economic disparities; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, beginning in the fall semester of 2023, each University of Hawaii System chancellor is requested to consult with the student council of the chancellor's respective campus to determine the type and amount of menstrual products to be provided at the campus; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the University of Hawaii System is requested to submit a report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2024 on the status of providing menstrual products, free of charge, to all of the System's university, community college, and education center campuses; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chair of the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii System, President of the University of Hawaii System, each University of Hawaii System chancellor, and the Executive Director of Equity Assurance of the University of Hawaii System.

Report Title:

University of Hawaii; Menstrual Inequity; Menstrual Products