California Facing Major Backlash After Details Reveal That The State Had A $1B N95 Mask Contract With China-Based Company

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom withheld details from the public and lawmakers regarding a $990 million state N95 mask contract with a China-based firm, according to Fox News.

848 pages of documents are now available to the public providing details on how the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services selected BYD to make 300 million face masks for protection against COVID-19.

“It would surprise Americans to see how a major Chinese company can so easily access government officials,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “I would think the California legislature would be interested in how this happened.”

Newsom signed a deal with BYD for 400 million at $316 million.

BYD, Build Your Dreams, was founded in 1995 and is listed on the Hong Kong and Shenzhen stock exchanges.

The company usually makes electric vehicles, widely sold for fleets throughout the United States.

In 2008, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway purchased a near quarter stake in the China-based firm. The company has 30 industrial plants across the globe, including in Los Angeles, and specializes in green-energy electronics, automobiles and rail transit. The masks were made in China.

“It’s an effort by our competitors to keep us out of the market,” Girardot said. “Quite frankly, they don’t make the same quality of product that we do.”

The masks for California were made in China because there was already a BYD plant there making masks and “there was no time to act” to build a new factory in the U.S., Girardot said.

The privately owned and publicly traded firm is neither state-owned nor associated with the Chinese Communist Party.

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Before the contract was finalized, Office of Emergency Services Assistant Chief Counsel Jennifer Bollinger asked BYD counsel John Zhuang in an April 3 email why BYD used “Global Healthcare Product Solutions, LLC.,” saying, “I understood this to be a contract directly with BYD North America.” Zhuang responded, “BYD’s contract manufacturing division started Global Healthcare Product Solutions earlier this year to sell healthcare products in the US.”

BYD had to refund $247 million of California’s $495 million down payment in an amendment to the agreement, apparently because BYD wasn’t able to meet the deadline of getting approval from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to make the N95 masks. California extended the deadline from April 30 to May 31, 2020.

BYD announced on May 13 that it was working with NIOSH on a “Corrective Action Plan” and would resubmit its application for approval. The press release said the federal agency found “no issues with the quality of the masks” but said the delay in approval was “related to documentation control paperwork.”

California Office of Emergency Services spokesman Brian Ferguson acknowledged the inquiry on Friday and said he was unsure the agency would have a comment, “But will keep you posted if we have anything on this.” Ferguson and others in the communications department did not respond to follow-up inquiries.

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Another provision in the contract showed what appeared to be an exemption from liability if there was a problem with masks, saying, “in no event shall Seller be liable for any consequential, special, incidental, indirect or punitive damages” and that BYD “makes no warranties or representations.” BYD spokesman Girardot said the company is responsible for any mask problems and called the language “boilerplate” for contracts.