Legislative Update
Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Work continues at the Capitol as we prepare for the historic 2025 legislative session, which begins on January 14.
This week, we finalized House committee rosters and continue to make personnel decisions that will shape our work in the upcoming session. These decisions are vital as we gear up to lead with a renewed focus on fiscal responsibility and accountability in state government, especially as we work to cut down on waste, fraud, and abuse.
This is especially relevant because, just this week, a massive new fraud scheme started to unravel when the FBI raided several autism centers around the state. Reporter Deena Winter first reported on this suspected fraud and subsequent FBI investigation back in June.
Over the past few years, the number of autism centers in Minnesota has increased by 700% while funding to those centers increased by a whopping 3,000%, from $6 million to $192 million. In response to that June article, despite these massive increases, an assistant commissioner of the Department of Human Services called the 3000% increase in funding “pretty consistent” with other government programs, and continued by saying “I don’t think we are surprised or particularly disturbed by the rate of growth.”
If there truly is as much fraud occurring as the FBI thinks, this scandal could rival the infamous Feeding Our Future scandal which saw $250 million taxpayer dollars intended to feed hungry kids stolen.
It seems like a new instance of fraud is discovered every day in Minnesota. It's a top priority of mine to increase accountability in our state agencies and stop the fraud. It's time to start respecting taxpayer dollars again.
This week, we also saw the Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor release another damning report on the state’s Department of Human Services (DHS). The audit revealed serious financial mismanagement, including:
- Failing to recover over $40 million in overpayments to Medical Assistance providers.
- Inadequate internal controls over taxpayer funds.
- Misreporting financial data to MMB since 2019.
This pattern of waste and mismanagement is unacceptable. Minnesotans deserve better from their state agencies. Republican committee chairs have sent letters to all 25 state agency commissioners, demanding transparency on expenditures, cost-saving opportunities, and efficiency improvements. This is just the first step in our plan to rein in excessive spending and stabilize Minnesota’s financial future.
As we head into the 2025 session, Republicans are focused on delivering accountability and responsible governance. I’ll continue to keep you updated on these and other important issues.
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