James Settelmeyer Voted for Bill That Put Tampons in Boy’s Bathrooms

By Andew Smith

CARSON CITY, Nevada — Nevada Republican congressional candidate James Settelmeyer voted for a 2021 bill that required menstrual products in school bathrooms and later led some Nevada schools to report placing tampons and pads in “all restrooms,” “all bathrooms,” and “each bathroom” including boy’s bathrooms.

The issue echoes the national controversy surrounding Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who was mocked by conservatives as “Tampon Tim” after signing a law requiring schools to make menstrual products available to students in restrooms regularly used by students in grades 4 through 12. Minnesota’s law required products to be made available to “all menstruating students,” according to a plan developed by each school district. Perhaps Nevada conservatives might start referring to James Settelmeyer as “Tampon Jim”

The bill, AB 224, required Nevada middle schools, junior high schools, high schools, and certain charter schools to provide menstrual products at no cost to pupils. The permanent language of the bill did not limit the mandate to girls’ bathrooms. It required school districts and covered charter schools to ensure menstrual products were provided “at no cost to pupils in the bathrooms” of covered schools. The bill defined menstrual products to include “sanitary napkins, tampons or similar products used in connection with the menstrual cycle.”

Settelmeyer voted for it.

AB 224 did not specifically use the phrase “boys’ bathrooms.” The bill also included a temporary rollout provision requiring menstrual products in “women’s restrooms” for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years at certain schools. But that was the temporary roll-out. The permanent mandate used broader language: “bathrooms.”

That distinction matters because the state’s own implementation reports show what happened after the law went into effect.

Settelmeyer now faces the Nevada version of that problem.

The Nevada Department of Education’s 2023-2024 Access to Menstrual Products report says it was compiled from information submitted by local education agencies under NRS 385A.315. The report includes district and charter school responses describing where menstrual products were made available.

Some districts said products were limited to girls’ or female restrooms, health offices, nurse’s offices, or similar locations. Others used far broader language.

Nye County School District reported that “all students” had access to menstrual products “in the restrooms and health aide’s offices.” Storey County School District reported that products were available in “bathrooms and nurses offices.” Amplus Durango Campus reported that “all students” had access to menstrual products regardless of grade level. Beacon Academy of Nevada reported that “all students” had access to quality menstrual products at no cost every day.

Coral Academy of Science at Nellis AFB reported that “all middle school students” had access to menstrual products for free and that dispensers were located in “all restrooms.” Doral Academy Las Vegas, Cactus, reported that products were available to “all students” through the health office, counselors’ offices, health education classrooms, and “dispensers in each bathroom.”

Other Doral Academy campuses reported the same policy, stating that menstrual products were available to “all students” with “dispensers in each bathroom.” Legacy Traditional School reported that it had dispensers in “all bathrooms in the upper hallways” at its Cadence, North Valley, and Southwest Las Vegas campuses.

In schools with boys’ or men’s restrooms, “all restrooms,” “all bathrooms,” and “each bathroom” includes boys’ or men’s restrooms.

The result was clear. Some Nevada schools reported placing products in all restrooms, all bathrooms, and each bathroom, including boys’ or men’s restrooms.

The issue is not whether female students should have access to menstrual products. The issue is whether a Republican lawmaker should have voted for broad statewide school bathroom language that allowed administrators to expand the policy into every bathroom on campus.

Settelmeyer could have opposed the bill. He could have insisted on language limiting the mandate to girls’ restrooms, nurse’s offices, health offices, or another defined location. He could have refused to support a statewide school bathroom mandate written broadly enough to produce this result.

He voted yes.

Settelmeyer could not be reached for comment.

The issue now lands in Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District, where Settelmeyer is running in a Republican primary while presenting himself as a conservative. His record already includes votes that have drawn criticism from the right, including his vote for driver authorization cards for illegal aliens.

The same school bathroom controversy that helped turn Tim Walz into a national punchline now appears in Settelmeyer’s record. The difference is that Walz is a Democrat. Settelmeyer cast his vote as a Republican.

But will other NV-02 candidates like Jesse Watts, David Flippo, George Forbush, or Fred Simon be brave enough to make this a campaign issue?