Today Senate Republicans rolled out several new bills to continue the fight against fraud that has plagued the state’s support programs. The bills aim to improve accountability within state government, support the use of technology to streamline delivery and verification of services, and give the legislature rigorous oversight of taxpayer’s dollars and the administration of these programs.  

“By now everyone has heard the repeated reporting of fraud and abuse in Minnesota, and with US Attorneys now estimating that total to be around $9 billion, it’s long past time we address this,” said Senator Eric Pratt (R-Prior Lake). “Under the Walz administration and Democrat leadership, our state, and the tax dollars we collect from Minnesota families, have been drained and abused by several cases of fraud throughout the last few years. Because of this, many of our most vulnerable have been unable to access services they rely on, and in some cases, this has led to the loss of life. These situations are tragic and avoidable. Today’s rollout aims to correct course to ensure this glaring lack of oversight never happens again.”

Senate Republicans are introducing a slate of proposed legislation to accomplish 3 key goals: implementing stricter legislative oversight, supporting technology to streamline verification and delivery of services, and improving overall accountability in state government.

Bills in the package include the following:

• Requiring that commissioners once again be confirmed within 60 days of being appointed
• Requiring audits to be conducted by the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) of any program that experiences a 5% increase over projected spending, and if services exceed projections by 10% or more, those programs would require additional review and involvement by the legislature
• Increasing electronic verification when a provider visits a client, ensuring that clients are receiving the services they are billed for
• Adding strict verification of eligibility by requiring managed care organizations to confirm client eligibility before full reimbursement, and would withhold 5% of payments to the MCO until all eligibility checks are complete
• Addressing state employees who have falsified paperwork during an audit by making these actions a crime
• Adding a requirement to reinstate Department of Human Services Office of Inspector General reports detailing fraud efforts, including cases under investigation, and funds recovered
• Mandating unannounced in-person visits to every business receiving taxpayer funding through the Department of Human Services or the Department of Children, Youth, and Families

In addition to bills included in the rollout, Pratt has also authored a bill to establish the Government Efficiency and Ethics Commission to investigate fraud allegations in state agencies.