California’s delayed release of its Baby2Baby contract is casting a shadow over the state’s new Golden State Diaper program.

Two months after Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a controversial multimillion-dollar state diaper contract with Baby2Baby, a nonprofit with existing ties to the Newsom administration and the First Partner, Californians still have not been allowed to see the contract or competitive bid records behind the deal to manufacture and deliver millions of California co-branded free diapers to new parents.

The delay comes despite repeated requests by CBS California Investigates and despite California law requiring the state to release these records. 

ALSO READ: California’s “Diapergate”: Critics got free diaper math wrong, but state won’t release key Baby2Baby records

The Newsom administration waited 24 days to decide whether it would even allow the public to see the records, but continues to delay releasing the Baby2Baby contract and competitive bid records that the governor announced more than two months ago.   

At the same time, California lawmakers are advancing legislation that would give state agencies additional time to respond to California Public Records Act requests, further extending how long the public must wait for records like these.

Delayed accountability 

CBS California Investigates requested a copy of the Baby2Baby contract on May 12, four days after Governor Newsom announced the partnership during a high-profile press conference. 

Given the controversy and misinformation surrounding the announcement, we asked the Newsom administration to forgo the formal California Public Records Act (CPRA) process and provide an expedited copy of the contract and competitive bid records. 

Both are expressly identified as public records under California law, which also requires agencies to “promptly notify” requesters whether records are disclosable, allowing a maximum of ten days to let them know the estimated date that they will provide the records. 

Instead, the Newsom Administration spent 24 days determining whether or not it would even allow Californians to see these public records, then said it would take another 42 days (if the state meets its latest deadline) to provide a copy of the contract and competitive bid records that the governor publicly announced two months ago. 

What is AB 1821?

Even as public interest grows, California lawmakers are advancing a bill that would allow agencies to further delay responses to Public Records Act requests, extending the maximum initial 10-day determination window and 14-day extension window from calendar days to business days.

State law does not limit how long an agency can wait to actually provide the records after they provide that initial response.   

ALSO READ: California State Secrets: What public officials don’t want you to know

Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco introduced Assembly Bill 1821, which originally sought to overhaul the transparency law to allow agencies to sue if they deemed a request “malicious” and charge up to $66 an hour to provide public records.   

The proposal triggered fierce pushback from a broad coalition including the First Amendment Coalition, ACLU California Action, Common Cause California, the League of Women Voters, and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Senate Judiciary Chair Tom Umberg, stripped the most controversial elements from the legislation before moving it forward.

“People shouldn’t have to tell us why they want that information. People shouldn’t have to pay to get information from public officials,” Umberg told CBS California. 

Still, the amended version lengthens the legal window for officials to respond to records requests. 

Pacheco maintained the necessity of the changes for burdened departments.

“Agencies across the state are experiencing a sharp increase in requests that are exceptionally broad,” she argued during testimony.

Ginny LaRoe of the First Amendment Coalition contends that essential documents, such as multimillion-dollar state contracts, should be accessible without any formal request at all.

“You should have that document in your hands. You should’ve had it in your hand the day they were talking about it,” LaRoe said.

Rather than forcing Californians to wait weeks for paper-pushing, LaRoe suggests the state should proactively upload finalized agreements online with minor necessary redactions for personal information, ensuring immediate transparency and easing the administrative burden.

Umberg signaled support for a shift toward automated disclosure.

“I think there’s a world where we make them do that,” he said. “It’s up to us to motivate them to do so.”

More than two months after Newsom’s big announcement, CBS California Investigates continues to wait for the state to release the Baby2Baby contract and the underlying bid documents.

After waiting 24 days to confirm the records were, in fact, disclosable, the state said it would need an additional 28 days to provide them. At 5:09 pm on the 28th day – Friday, July 3, a state holiday – CBS California received a presumably automated email informing us the state would need another two weeks to provide the contract the governor announced two months ago. 

Until these public records are actually public, questions will continue to mount about how this deal was reached and how competing proposals were scored.

Day 1 | May 12

CBS California Investigates requested a copy of the Baby2Baby contract four days after Governor Newsom announced the partnership during a high-profile Capitol press conference.

The Governor’s Office referred the request to the California Health and Human Services Agency. Because of the intense public interest following the announcement, CBS California Investigates asked Deputy Secretary of External Affairs Sami Gallegos and Assistant Secretary of External Affairs Rodger Butler to forgo the formal California Public Records Act (CPRA) process and simply provide an expedited copy of the highly publicized contract.

Instead, Butler directed us to the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), the agency handling the procurement. HCAI acknowledged receipt of the request.

Day 7 | May 19

CBS California Investigates followed up with the HCAI, again requesting an expedited copy of the contract because we were on a deadline.

The agency responded that the request was being processed through the California Public Records Act, rather than providing the contract directly.

Day 14 | May 22

Exactly 10 calendar days after the request, the HCAI invoked the CPRA’s “unusual circumstances” provision, extending the deadline another 14 days to determine whether the requested records were disclosable.

The agency wrote that it needed additional time because “two or more components of the agency have substantial subject matter interest” in the request.

Day 28 | June 5

Fourteen days later, the HCAI agreed that the records are public.

The agency determined that the Baby2Baby contract, procurement packet, scope of work, bid scoring sheets and vendor award documents are disclosable public records.

However, instead of releasing them, the HCAI said it would need another three to four weeks to identify and produce the records.

AB 1821 | While we waited

While CBS California Investigates waited for the records, lawmakers advanced AB 1821, legislation that originally proposed sweeping changes to California’s Public Records Act.

After bipartisan criticism and opposition from transparency advocates, many of the bill’s most controversial provisions were removed. However, the amended bill still gives agencies additional time to respond to public records requests.

Day 52 | July 3

Instead of receiving the records, CBS California Investigates received another email at 5:09 p.m. on the final day of the promised three-to-four-week production window.

Rather than releasing the records, the state delayed production another two weeks, pushing the expected release well past the two-month mark.

Day 56 and counting

Fifty-six days after CBS California Investigates requested the Baby2Baby contract, and 60 days after Governor Newsom publicly announced the partnership, Californians still have not been allowed to review:

• The executed contract
• The procurement packet
• The scope of work
• The competitive bid scoring sheets
• The vendor award documents

Translation: The Newsom administration spent 24 days determining whether records already identified as public under California law could be released. It then delayed producing those records for another six weeks. If the state meets its latest deadline, Californians will have waited 66 days from our request and 70 days from the governor’s announcement to see the contract.

Gavin Newsom is taking a victory lap today on the first anniversary of California’s film and TV tax credits program being jacked up to $750 million, and the potential presidential contender has Disney, a Shrek prequel, and Ben Affleck along for the ride.

Along with an untitled Pixar project, the Argo Oscar winner’s upcoming Gingerbread Men, the Hailee Steinfeld and Rashida Jones-starring animated Hexed from the House of Mouse and DreamWorks’ Eddie Murphy-led Donkey were among 41 films that received $187 million in incentives today.

The Pixar flick was awarded the most in credits with $26.7 million in what has become a very helpful program for animation the past 365 days. Not that ‘toons don’t pay off. The four animated features are estimated to inject $711 million into the Golden State’s economy. That breaks down to about “$145 million in qualified wages, employing over 1,900 cast and crew members” for the home of Hollywood, according to the California Film Commission.

“We received the approval letter informing us that Gingerbread Men was accepted into the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program,” Affleck said of the indie from his and pal Matt Damon‘s Artists Equity.“ Gingerbread Men got $7 million from the state.

“Under the program, we have been able to make the films Argo, Unstoppable, and Accountant 2,” Affleck added. “Our upcoming film, Gingerbread Men, will be filmed in Los Angeles, California – close to our company office and the best and most experienced cast and crew, vendors, and service providers. Let’s continue to keep the California film industry alive with the help of the California Film and Television Tax Credit Program!”

Take a look at the full list of conditionally approved awards here:

Overall, the bean counters in Sacramento anticipate the 41 projects will generate $1.1 billon “in direct production spending in California” and “$145 million in qualified wages, employing over 1,900 cast and crew.”

That figure factors nicely into some very big numbers that Governor Newsom heralded Tuesday.

Specifically, $6.6 billion has been created for the state’s economy over the past year out of 170 credited projects. While that sum sounds (and is) impressive, the figure that may get the town truly jazzed is the “nearly 35,000 cast and crew jobs across California” the Governor’s team says have come out of the last year since the program allotment leapt up.

To that, including the awarded big screeners revealed today, Gov. Newsom sure sounded like he was prepping a stump speech for the Heartland on the California miracle, so to speak.

“California has long set the standard for entertainment production, creating good-paying jobs and showcasing the creativity and innovation that define the Golden State,” the governor asserted. “The first year of the expanded tax credit program is already delivering results — generating billions in economic activity, creating opportunities for businesses and the workforce, and bringing more productions home to California.”

Maybe the biggest praise came from Burbank.

“Governor Newsom, and the legislative leaders who have worked to strengthen opportunities for production here as we continue to invest in California’s world-class creative workforce,” said Alan Bergman, Disney Entertainment Studios chairman Tuesday.

Reading the tea leaves-ish, does that mean we’ll see some Marvel movies coming over from the tax incentive rich UK soon?

Just askin’.

A man has been arrested for involuntary manslaughter after a woman was killed and three other people were injured from a fireworks explosion in Southern California over the holiday weekend, authorities said.

Officers responded at about 8:30 p.m. local time on July 4 to a reported vehicle fire in a neighborhood in the city of Chino, California, the Chino Police Department said in a news release. Chino is located in western San Bernardino County, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles.

When officers arrived, police said they found that an explosion had occurred and multiple people had been injured. Officers immediately provided first aid to several victims with serious injuries. A nearby vehicle was also engulfed in flames as a result of the explosion, according to police.

“Based on the preliminary investigation, detectives believe a large quantity of fireworks ignited, causing the explosion,” police said in the news release, adding that the incident remains under investigation.

Derion Tradon James Jr., 28, was detained at the scene and later booked into the West Valley Detention Center for involuntary manslaughter, police said. The case will be submitted to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office for review.

Following the incident, police said investigators and fire personnel remained at the scene as they worked to ensure the area was safe and evaluate any remaining fireworks, debris and other hazards. Several nearby roadways were closed over the weekend.

The Chino Police Department is leading the criminal investigation. The Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner will conduct the death investigation, while the Ontario Fire Department Bomb Squad is assisting investigators with the explosives-related part of the case.

Woman died at hospital after sustaining severe injuries

Three people were transported to local hospitals with severe injuries, according to police. One of the victims, a woman in her 20s, later died from her injuries at a hospital.

Her identity is being withheld pending identification and notification of next of kin by the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner, police said.

The two other victims suffered serious injuries and are expected to survive, police said. Their identities have not been released.

A fourth victim, who police described as a juvenile, was taken to a hospital for evaluation and “has since been released to a parent or guardian,” according to the news release.

‘Definitely felt a big bang’: Pilot says firework hit Delta plane landing at Chicago airport

Latest fireworks-related incident during July Fourth celebrations

Ahead of July Fourth celebrations, experts had warned the public to stay safe around fireworks, citing a spike in the number of fireworks-related fatalities in 2025.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), there were 15 deaths and 13,000 injuries in the United States attributed to either the misuse of or malfunctions with fireworks. Of those, 1,300 emergency-room-treated injuries were caused by sparklers.

About 68% of all fireworks injuries occur in July; July Fourth is the most injury-prone day, with 27% of total injuries, USA TODAY previously reported. New Year’s Day is the second-largest, with 5.5% of total injuries.

Numerous incidents involving fireworks were reported across the country over the holiday weekend, including several in Southern California.

In Los Angeles County, the fire department said a man was critically injured after a fire burned at least two cars in a parking lot in the Wilmington neighborhood on July 3. The incident also prompted the evacuation of a nearby hotel and a two-story single-family home, displacing 10 adults and two children.

After extinguishing the flames with foam, crews discovered “what appeared to be potentially dangerous explosives/fireworks” near the vehicles, and the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad determined that “commercial grade fireworks” were found on the ground next to the burned vehicles, according to the department.

Fourth of July celebrations in Newport Beach, California, a coastal city in Orange County, led to over 400 arrests after large crowds became disorderly, according to police. “As the crowd rapidly grew, individuals engaged in increasingly dangerous and unlawful behavior” including by “blocking roadways, restricting emergency vehicle access and throwing explosive mortars, fireworks and other projectiles at police officers,” the city of Newport Beach said.

Contributing: Stephen J. Beard and Paris Barraza, USA TODAY