Yes, Tim Walz signed a law requiring Minnesota public schools to provide free tampons in school bathrooms

Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate on Tuesday, Aug. 6.

In the hours following the announcement, many conservative social media accounts claimed Walz had signed legislation requiring tampons in boys’ bathrooms while governor of Minnesota.

“Tim Walz calls Republicans ‘creepy’ and ‘weird.’ This is the guy who signed laws requiring tampons in boys bathrooms,” said an X post published by Libs of TikTok, a right-wing social media account. Libs of TikTok founder Chaya Raichik also posted a meme depicting Walz’s face on a box of tampons with the caption: “#TamponTim.” The term #TamponTim was later trending on X.

But some people on X, including Hillary Clinton, defended Walz saying the legislation he signed actually made free tampons available to all students at schools in Minnesota, not just in boys’ bathrooms.

THE QUESTION

Did Tim Walz sign a law requiring Minnesota public schools to provide free tampons in school bathrooms?

THE SOURCES

• Minnesota Statute 121A.212
• Minnesota House of Representatives
• Minnesota Rep. Sandra Feist, chief sponsor of the bill
• Alliance for Period Supplies, a nonprofit organization sponsored by U by Kotex

THE ANSWER

Yes, Tim Walz signed a law requiring Minnesota public schools to provide free tampons in school bathrooms.

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WHAT WE FOUND

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz signed a bill into law in 2023 that requires Minnesota public schools to provide free tampons and other period products in bathrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12. However, the law does not specify in which bathrooms the period products must be located.

Minnesota Statute 121A.212, which went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024, says “a school district or charter school must provide students with access to menstrual products at no charge.” The term “menstrual products” refers to pads, tampons, or other similar period products.

The law’s text also says the products must be available to “all menstruating students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 to 12, according to a plan developed by the school district.” That would include both boys, girls and gender-neutral bathrooms.

Minnesota students and their allies urged lawmakers for years to pass legislation requiring public schools to provide free menstrual products to all, citing a problem they described as “period poverty.” Period poverty is the “inability to afford and access menstrual products,” according to UN Women.

In an email, Minnesota Democratic state Rep. Sandra Feist, the chief sponsor of the legislation, told VERIFY the goal of the law is to address period poverty for all students who are struggling to afford period products and who miss school as a result.

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“While the vast majority of the period products will be used in the girls’ bathrooms, the decision was made to structure the bill as gender-inclusive in order to ensure that trans and nonbinary students who menstruate would have equal access to the products they need,” Feist said.

“We know that these students face even greater barriers and stigma around menstruation and wanted them to be able to privately access these products,” Feist added.

Feist said she received many emails from trans youth and their support network of family and educators letting her know “that this is a very real issue that impacts students.”

“I feel good about the gender-inclusive structure of the bill and did work with school stakeholders to provide some additional flexibility in implementation that they were comfortable with,” Feist explained.

Some Republican lawmakers in Minnesota pushed back against the legislation and attempted to amend the bill to apply only to girls’ bathrooms, but the amendment failed. The final bill passed 35-32 before Walz signed it into law on May 24, 2023.

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Minnesota is one of 28 states and Washington, D.C. that have passed legislation to help students who menstruate have free access to period products while in school, according to the Alliance for Period Supplies, a nonprofit organization sponsored by U by Kotex.

Legislation in California, New Mexico and Washington specifically states that the free period products must be included in at least one male bathroom in addition to all female and gender-neutral bathrooms. Other states, like New York and Virginia, for example, don’t specify which bathrooms the products should be located in.

VERIFY reached out to Walz for comment but did not hear back by the time of publication.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.