California will become the first state in the nation to provide free diapers to all newborns, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday, an attempt to ease the financial burden of one of the biggest childcare costs for new parents.
The program will begin distributing diapers at hospitals this summer, starting with hospitals that serve large numbers of patients on Medi-Cal, the joint federal-state health insurance program for low-income Californians. About half of babies born in California are on Medi-Cal.
“The biggest problem in our city and state is the issue of affordability,” Newsom said at a press conference announcing the initiative in San Francisco. “This is what affordability looks like. It’s not a slogan, it’s a box of diapers. It’s addressing the essentials.”
Newborns born in participating hospitals will receive 400 free diapers. Hospitals will provide the diapers at the time of discharge.
Officials will announce the participating hospitals at a later date, Newsom said. About 65 to 70 hospitals in low-income communities have been contacted about the program, called Golden State Start. The state Legislature allocated $7.4 million in last year’s budget to launch the initiative, and Newsom has requested $12.5 million in this year’s budget to expand it going forward. Newsom will unveil his latest budget proposal later this month, and he and lawmakers must come to a deal about a spending plan by mid-June.
“We’ll go where the need is greatest first, and we’ll start with 400 diapers,” Newsom said.
About 420,000 babies are born in California each year, and families spend about $1,000 a year per baby on diapers, according to the state Department of Health Care Access and Information.
For low-income families, diapers are the fourth highest expenditure after rent, food and utilities, said Kelly Sawyer Patricof, co-CEO of Baby2Baby, the California-based nonprofit that is partnering with the state to provide the free diapers. The group estimates that one in two U.S. families struggle to afford diapers.
Baby2Baby will manufacture the diapers using its existing manufacturing system, which produces diapers for 80% less than retail prices, Sawyer Patricof said. To date, Baby2Baby has given out more than 300 million diapers using this model.
California lawmakers have for years tried, with varying degrees of success, to lower the cost of diapers for families in a notoriously expensive state. Last year, a bill that would have covered diapers for some Medi-Cal recipients failed to advance in the Legislature. In 2017, lawmakers passed a bill providing monthly benefits to cover diapers through the state’s welfare-to-work program, CalWORKs. In 2020, diapers became exempt from state sales taxes.