CORONA — Three bills that will provide free pads and tampons in schools, city shelters and jails were signed into law on Wednesday, showing the products are "a necessity, not a luxury," Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
The bills, which were first championed and co-sponsored by Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, will help everyone have their essential needs met, she said.
"I am proud to lead the nation towards menstrual equity by guaranteeing access to pads and tampons to hundreds of thousands of women and girls," she said.
"If you need it and don't have it, it is the worst feeling ever," she added.
Ferrereras-Copeland first introduced free pads and tampons in a trial program at the High School for Arts & Business in Corona after teaming up with a health care company.
Under the new law, dispensers will be installed in 800 schools, serving 300,000 students. More than 20,000 women and girls at homeless shelters will also have access to the pads and tampons.
City jails — which previously put a cap on how many pads an inmate could get, and prohibited tampons — will remove the limit and offer tampons, officials said.
De Blasio said he only wished his mother were alive to see him sign the bill.
"As a father, husband and feminist, I'm proud to sign these bills into law," de Blasio said.
