Newsom's budget has money for new diaper program — possibly at the cost of an existing one

Diapers are expensive – they can cost a family over $100 a month per kid. 

That’s why some food banks also distribute diapers. 

“If we are able to provide $100 of diapers that month, that's $100 now that they can spend on whatever it is that they need, whether that's food, gas, rent, utilities,” Kevin Buffalino with the Sacramento Food Bank said. 

And they have a lot of them.

“We have rows and rows stretching all the way back to the building there,” Buffalino said while gesturing to towering aisles of non-descript boxes filled with diapers. 

California is proposing a new program for distributing them — but possibly at the cost of the state’s diaper banks. 

Governor Gavin Newsom’s budget currently includes up to $7.4 million this year and $12.5 million next year for diapers that families with newborns will automatically receive through the hospital systems for three months. 

But existing diaper banks aren’t in the budget. Last year, they received $9 million, and that was a cut from prior years.  

“This new funding, it's exciting. The recognition for the diapers is there and that it is a need,” Buffalino said.

But he also said it’s unclear what will happen to the current programs, which will have to scale back a lot if they lose their state funding. 

It’s also likely that this budget will look significantly different from the final budget that the governor and legislature agree to in June. That’s a normal part of budget negotiations in any year, but lawmakers this year will also have to consider aid for fire damage in the Los Angeles area and potential cuts to federal funding that President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to make. 

The budget proposal says the new program would be run by the Department of Health Care Access and Information through hospitals for all families of newborns. That department was unavailable for an interview.