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SM




mek

Dear Neighbor,

Week 2 of the 2025 legislative session is coming to a close and House Democrats still are nowhere to be found at the Capitol.

Meanwhile, House Republicans continue working to help Minnesotans a variety of ways. For example, we are taking a serious approach to curbing fraud, waste, and abuse in state programs. I’m sure this always has been an issue to some degree, but it exploded under the Walz administration and the former one-party rule at the Capitol. From Feeding our Future to childcare assistance, frontline worker pay, and DHS and the Department of Education, reports of fraud and waste have cost Minnesota taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars – maybe even billions of dollars, who really knows?

mek

Taxpayers already pay too much in this state. The least we can do is ensure the dollars they pay to the state are used for the intended purposes – and that’s what we aim to do with this package of bills. The first three bills House Republicans authored this session are designed to increase accountability and protect taxpayers by combatting the rampant fraud and waste in Minnesota. The proposals include:


* *House File 1:* Establishes a centralized Office of the Inspector General to lead the fight against fraud across state programs. The bill consolidates agency-based inspector general offices into a unified entity, requires agencies to halt payments when fraud is suspected, and mandates the creation of a fraud reporting hotline. Additionally, it provides funding to ensure the new OIG has the resources to be effective.
* *House File 2:* Strengthens fraud prevention by mandating stricter reporting requirements for state agencies and equipping them with additional tools to identify and prevent fraudulent activities. This bill emphasizes transparency and swift action to address fraud concerns.
* *House File 3:* Establishes “fraud notes,” a groundbreaking tool to assess the susceptibility of proposed legislation to fraud. Similar to fiscal notes, fraud notes would provide lawmakers with an evaluation of potential fraud risks before enacting new programs or policies.

An interesting twist to this subject of grifting the taxpayers came Thursday in the committee on labor which I serve. We heard from people representing school districts from around the state who outlined how a new state program is being gamed.

Officially, the item on the agenda was entitled: “Impacts of Earned Sick and Safe Time and Paid Family Medical Leave policies on school districts and educators.” More to the point, we heard how people can take advantage of the new ESST program which was horribly constructed by Democrats.

Minnesota’s ESST law requires employers to provide paid leave to employees who work in the state. The problem is ESST is ripe for fraud because people can be hired for a new job, receive pay and benefits, quickly play the “sick” card and never show up again. Meanwhile, while they called in “sick,” they may have been hired for a new job, receive more new pay and benefits, quickly play the “sick” card and never show up again.

It’s just apply, show up, get paid and quit. Wash, rinse, repeat, over and over. And employers are not allowed to ask about absences at previous jobs, so people are able to leapfrog from one job to the next without being discovered.

Meanwhile, employers – in this case schools, but it could play out anywhere – are taking the hit, which ultimately falls back to the taxpayers. It’s thousands of dollars each time this grift happens.

House Republicans pointed out to House Democrats this kind of abuse could occur back when House Democrats were building ESST. House Democrats buried their head in the sand and said it would not. Well, here we are – it" is" happening and we have proof from citizens who testified in the House.

The million-dollar question is how we can add guardrails to ESST. House Republicans are taking a look at this, so stay tuned. At the very least, we should delay the start of another new program, Paid Family Medical Leave, which the Democrats created and set to launch in January of 2026. It, too, is ripe for fraud.

It is good House Republicans created a new Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee. That group has plenty of work to do after the mess created by a Democrat trifecta in Minnesota the last two years. At least House Democrats are in the minority now … if they bother to show up for work at the Capitol this session.

Sincerely,

Shane







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State Rep. Shane Mekeland
2nd Floor, Centennial Office Building
658 Cedar St., St. Paul, MN 55155
[email protected] <[email protected]>
(651) 296-2451







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