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Governor Newsom Signs Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan’s Bill that Eliminates the “Pink Tax”

AB 1287 eliminates the “Pink Tax” by prohibiting charging different prices for goods based solely on the gender to which they are marketed.

For immediate release:

Sacramento, CA – Governor Newsom has signed Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer Kahan’s (D-Orinda) historic AB 1287, eliminating the “Pink Tax” on goods marketed to women and girls. This legislation is part of a decades-long fight to end gender-based pricing.

AB 1287 will build on the work begun in 1995 by then-Assemblymember Jackie Speier. Speier’s “Gender Tax Repeal Act” prohibited charging women higher prices for similar services. This bill prohibits price differentials for substantially similar goods. The bill would allow for price differences when goods have a significant difference in the cost or time to produce.

“The ‘Pink Tax’ is a gender based penalty that harms women who are already paid less,” said Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan. “This type of arbitrary gendered pricing has no place in California. It’s long past time to eliminate this type of inequality. I’m grateful Governor Newsom has signed this bill to ensure price equality in California.”

With AB 1287, Assemblymember Bauer-Kahan fought to remove a last pillar of commercial gender discrimination, in order to ensure women have equal access to products without paying a “tax” for their gender. AB 1287 is an Assembly Women’s Caucus Priority bill and is sponsored by the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls.

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