wa-law.org > bill > 2023-24 > HB 1837 > Original Bill
The legislature finds that access to abortion and contraceptive health care is limited by systemic and individual barriers, which increase at the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, disability, socioeconomic status, immigration or visa status, health insurance, and coverage status. Therefore, it is essential that institutions of higher education provide access to emergency contraception in discreet locations on their campuses.
Institutions of higher education with over 1,000 full-time equivalent students shall provide contraception vending machines for students and staff stocked with over-the-counter emergency contraceptive medication and other forms of contraception, including condoms, at discreet and geographically accessible locations, such as gender-neutral restrooms and student union buildings, and locations that are accessible on weekends and after 5:00 p.m. The locations of vending contraception machines must be made in consultation with student government, faculty, and staff. Institutions of higher education shall add one additional contraception vending machine for every 20,000 students.
The procurement, installation, and maintenance of contraception vending machines, and any associated labor hours, must be provided by the institutions of higher education at no additional expense to students.
The cost of emergency contraception at contraception vending machines must be offered at cost with no additional markups. Student governments may provide funding to lower the cost of emergency contraception to free or below cost.
Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, each institution of higher education shall receive $10,000 per contraception vending machine. Funds must be directly distributed to each four-year institution of higher education and to the state board for community and technical colleges to be disbursed to each community and technical college that provides contraception vending machines.