California families welcoming newborns will soon receive hundreds of free diapers before leaving the hospital under a first-in-the-nation program being announced Friday by Gov. Gavin Newsom .

During the program’s first year, it will be offered at about 65 to 75 hospitals that handle about a quarter of births in the state and largely serve low-income patients, Newsom's office said. The initiative will expand to more hospitals statewide though the governor's office did not say how many.

Newsom said the plan builds on California's effort to make living in the notoriously expensive state a little easier for families.…