Staff Reports
Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled out a program this week called Golden State Start, promising 400 free diapers to every newborn from participating hospitals. It sounds sweet until you do the math and look at who is getting paid to handle the delivery. The headlines should be about helping new parents — but right now they are about a $20 million tab, awkward nonprofit ties, and a procurement process that needs to be explained in plain English.
Golden State Start: what the state says it will do
The program will start at roughly 65–75 hospitals and cover about one quarter of California births in its first year. The governor’s office says each newborn will leave the hospital with 400 diapers, and the state has lines in the budget that add up to about $7.4 million already set aside plus $12.5 million being sought — roughly $20 million. The state tapped the Los Angeles nonprofit Baby2Baby to manufacture, warehouse and distribute the diapers on behalf of the Department of Health Care Access and Information.
The cost math and the procurement question
Here is the arithmetic everyone is talking about: if you divide roughly $20 million by the planning estimate of 40 million diapers in year one, you get about 50 cents per diaper. Critics point out you can buy diapers in bulk for way less than that at retail. The state has a defense — it had an RFI and budget planning in place before the press event — but RFI documents are not the same as a signed contract with unit prices. The public deserves to see the actual procurement award, line‑item costs, and invoices so taxpayers can tell whether this is a good deal or a political publicity purchase.
Why the optics stink: nonprofit ties and political pal networks
People are also asking why the state routed millions through Baby2Baby instead of simple vouchers or cash assistance that parents could spend where they choose. The nonprofit’s leaders have ties to networks that include the governor’s circle — board overlaps and social connections that create a bad look even if nothing illegal happened. In politics, appearances matter. Taxpayers don’t like watching money flow from public coffers into private networks without clear, competitive procurement and posted unit costs.
Conclusion: help parents, but show your work
No one in their right mind opposes helping new families get diapers. California has a real problem with the rising cost of raising kids. But good intentions do not erase the need for transparency. Governor Gavin Newsom should publish the procurement award, the per‑unit cost, and the selection process. If the program is efficient and fair, those documents will prove it. If not, taxpayers deserve answers — and parents deserve policies that help them without feeding political insiders.
