Let's Cut Some Spending: Newsom's $20 Million No-Bid Diaper Deal

In our Let's Cut Some Spending series, ForAmerica chronicles the many ways government at every level wastes YOUR tax dollars.

Today's offering: $19.9 million in taxpayer money for "free" diapers -- funneled through a no-bid contract to a company with ties to the governor's own wife.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom committed the state to spending $19.9 million over two years to provide "free" diapers to every new baby born at participating hospitals, regardless of the parents' income. Watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste named Newsom its July 2026 "Porker of the Month" for the program, and it's easy to see why: the first $6.2 million contract went out with no competitive bidding process to a company with ties to Newsom's own wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

Meanwhile, most other companies that actually applied for the program never even heard back from the state's Department of Health Care Access. And the math doesn't add up for taxpayers either -- the state is paying 18.5 cents per diaper, which is 75 percent more than the 10.5 cents charged at the nation's largest retailer. In other words: no competition, a connected insider, and a worse price than you'd get at Walmart.

"Taxpayers deserve transparency, competition, and accountability whenever government spends their hard-earned money. Awarding multimillion-dollar contracts without competition undermines public confidence and increases the risk of wasteful spending."

That's CAGW President Tom Schatz, explaining why Newsom earned the dubious honor. A program marketed as help for young families ended up looking a lot more like a favor for a friend -- paid for, as always, by California taxpayers.

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Nearly $20 million, a no-bid contract to an insider, and a worse price than the store down the street. Let's cut some spending.

Source: Citizens Against Government Waste