Capitol Roundup: Lawmakers Introduce Bill To End "Tampon Tax"

California lawmakers have introduced a bill that would make feminine hygiene products exempt from state and local sales tax in the state.

The authors of the bill, AB 1561, said on Tuesday the measure would bring more gender equity to California’s tax code. Women in the state pay more than $20 million annually on what the lawmakers call the “tampon tax.”

The bill was introduced by two Southern California Assemblywomen, Cristina Garcia, a Democrat and Ling Ling Chang, a Republican.

Last year, a bill to exempt diapers from sales tax in California stalled in the Legislature but could be brought back for a vote later this month, said a spokesman for that bill's author, Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego.

Also this week, the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced it has issued more than 600,000 driver licenses to people living in the state illegally since a new law went into effect a year ago.

The law, AB 60, allows people who live in the state but lack proof of legal residence to apply for a license. Applicants can obtain a license if they pass the DMV’s knowledge and driving tests and show proof of identity.

The DMV says it has administered more than two million such tests since the law went into effect in January 2015.