Congress left town for a Spring District Work Period, and is expected back into town next Monday. They will be in session for three weeks, and then off for another District Work Week from April 28 through May 6,

So now is the perfect time to thank your representative for meeting with you if you came to Lobby Day, and/or invite him or her to visit your diaper banks. When arranging a visit of your diaper bank by your congressional representative, here are some tips to keep in mind:

1. Call the office and ask to speak with the scheduler when making your request. Expect that there will be some back and forth about the schedule before a date is settled on. If you have a specific date or event in mind, CALL EARLY!

2. Plan for no more than one hour. Congressional representatives have VERY busy schedules.

3. Provide a rough agenda, including the names and titles of whom the representative will meet. Consider having some of your partner agencies who can speak to how they use the diapers you provide attend as well.

4. This is your chance to talk about what you do--do not expect the representative to make a speech unles you have coordinated it first with the office.

5. Show off your warehouse, or a distribution, or some other aspect of what you do--make it visual and real.

6. Be flexible. An opening may develop in the representative's schedule with very little notice. 

7. Like with any office visit, if you don't know the answer, say you will get back to them. 

Wondering when would be a good time to schedule a visit? You can find the Congressional schedule here .

Missouri's proposal to offer tax credits for donations to diaper banks has taken another step forward. S1015 was approved by the Senate Economic Development Committee. HCB12, a diaper bank tax credit program in the Missouri House was returned to the committee of origin. Also, there will be a hearing on April 12 on Missouri's Social Services appropriations bill S2011, which includes an allowance specifically for diapers as part of its Abortions Alternatives program. This year's appropriations bill represents a significant increase for material support for the program. In other diaper news, New York recently passed a bill requiring all new publicly accessible restrooms to include a diaper changing station. California has issued guidance to its County Welfare Directors on how to implement its new diaper cost supportive services program. Perhaps other states can use this as a model.

It's been a big week for providing period products to prisoners. On Monday, Connecticut's legislature approved the Governor's proposal to improve the lives of incarcerated women in a number of ways, including making all feminine hygiene products available free of charge. Maryland's legislature also passed a similar bill this week. Colorado included feminine hygiene supplies in its recently passed budget for correctional facilities.And Virginia has also approved a law to provide feminine hygiene products in correctional institutions. A bill in New York to provide feminine hygiene products in all state female bathrooms has been referred to the Government Operations Committee.