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May 29, 2026 / 4:53 PM EDT

/ CBS News California

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California's new Golden State Start diaper program is facing backlash after viral social media posts claimed taxpayers were paying as much as 50 cents per diaper through a partnership with Baby2Baby.The Newsom administration fired back, insisting the actual cost is just 15.5 cents per diaper.But a CBS News California Investigates review of the state's own budget documents, Baby2Baby tax filings and social media claims found both sides are leaving out important context. There are also many claims we can't yet fact check because, nearly a month after the governor publicly announced the program and touted the competitive selection process, his administration will not release the Baby2Baby state contract or competitive bid records to CBS News California Investigates.The administration says it needs more time to determine whether the records are disclosable under California's Public Records Act, pushing the deadline to decide whether to release the records to the first week of June, a full month after the public announcement. Key fact checksCalifornian's are currently paying 18.5 cents per diaper under the new program. The viral "50 cents per diaper" criticism combines multiple years of proposed spending and divides it by only the first year's diaper total.The Newsom administration's 15.5-cent fact check ignores state agency costs that add an additional 3 cents per diaper in the first year. This is not a gift card or cash-assistance program; parents will leave the hospital with roughly 400 diapers for their newborns.Experts caution that stockpiling newborn diapers often leads to waste because babies grow at different rates and can quickly outgrow diapers in the first few weeks. So far, officials can't say how they plan to ensure taxpayer funded diapers given out in bulk will not go to waste. The Baby2Baby co-CEOs, widely linked to Gov. Newsom's wife, make less than $80,000 per year – not the $240,000 widely circulated online. Online critics repeatedly point to the Baby2Baby co-CEOs' relationship with First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom. The governor also alluded to a longstanding relationship between his administration and Baby2Baby during the program launch.