California to offer newborn parents a month’s supply of this new, free benefit
California parents of newborns will leave the hospital with a supply of 400 free diapers as part of the new “Golden State Start” program launching this summer, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday.
The Department of Health Care and Human Services and Department of Health Care Access and Information will partner with Los Angeles nonprofit Baby2Baby to offer free diapers to patients at 65 hospitals statewide that primarily serve low-income patients on Medi-Cal, though parents do not need to be on Medi-Cal to receive diapers.
Baby2Baby successfully lobbied Newsom’s administration in 2020 to suspend sales tax on diapers. The nonprofit, which offers diapers and other supplies to families experiencing homelessness and poverty, manufactures its own diapers, according to a fact sheet provided to reporters.
Newsom framed Golden State Start as a first-in-the nation effort as part of his office’s focus on tackling affordability, highlighting his administration’s focus on transitional kindergarten and free school meals. He also spoke about addressing cost burdens for parents as the price of diapers has risen 48% since the pandemic, or about $1,000 a year. Four hundred diapers is roughly a month’s supply, as babies need 8 to 12 diapers a day.
“This is what affordability looks like. It’s not a slogan. It’s a box. It’s a box of diapers,” Newsom told reporters during a press conference at the Children’s Creativity Museum in San Francisco. “It’s addressing the essential and essential for any new parent, for any new family, and that essential is no longer affordable.”
He also took a shot at Amazon, blaming the online retailer for engaging in “predatory pricing” and driving out of business Diapers.com, which allowed parents to order diapers and other essentials online for delivery. Amazon later acquired the website after cutting its prices to compete with Diapers.com.
It was not yet clear which hospitals would participate in the first year of the Golden State Start program, for which Newsom’s office set aside $7.4 million in the current fiscal year budget. That will scale up to $12.5 million in the upcoming 2026-2027 revised fiscal year budget, which Newsom is set to present next Thursday.
Department of Health Care Access and Information Director Elizabeth Landsberg said the agency would look for partner hospitals in at all parts of the state with a focus on facilities that primarily serve Medi-Cal patients.
Newsom was joined by Baby2Baby co-executives Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Norah Weinstein, HHS Secretary Kim Johnson and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, the heir to the Levi Strauss denim fortune who ran the Tipping Foundation, an anti-poverty nonprofit before entering office last year.
