Newsom's Office Disputes Diaper Contract Report, Records Differ
California released long-sought contract records hours after a report questioned Governor Newsom's diaper program, then called the reporting 'demonstrably false.'
California's governor's office pushed back on CBS News reporting about a no-bid contract for the Baby2Baby diaper program, calling parts of the coverage "demonstrably false" in an email sent shortly after the state released long-withheld records.
The records arrived on July 17, 66 days after CBS filed its public records request and just six hours after CBS published a story on the contract. Thirty minutes after that release, the governor's office emailed CBS disputing several points and asking for corrections.
CBS said it reviewed each claim against the state's budget documents, legislative texts, the Legislative Analyst's Office and the newly released records. The outlet said the review supported its original reporting.
On the central dispute — whether the contract process was "competitive" — the governor had said on camera that the deal went through a "competitive bidding process." But the state's own contract database labels the deal "NON-COMPETITIVELY BID," and the governing document states it is "Not a Solicitation," with pricing that "will not be considered a proposal/bid." California law defines competitive bidding with specific requirements, including published evaluation criteria and scoring, none of which CBS said appeared in the released records. The state budget exempted the deal from that process, according to CBS.
The governor's office said the process was competitive "in nature," citing 15 applicants judged on cost and other factors, though CBS said the records contain no scoring sheets or evaluation criteria and that state documents give conflicting applicant counts of 11, 14 and 15.
On the timing of the records' release, the governor's office said delays stemmed from the legal team needing time to process the request, not an effort to withhold documents. CBS noted the state extended its own response deadlines multiple times, with the final notice arriving nine minutes after the close of business on a holiday.
On funding, the office said diaper banks and the new diaper program each received $7.4 million in the 2025-26 budget, disputing a CBS finding that the new program came at diaper banks' expense. The source material provided to CBS was cut off before further detail on this point.
CBS said it has asked the state to produce any scoring records for the contract process and will report further findings if they emerge.
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
