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REP. THEIS COAUTHORS PACKAGE OF PROPOSALS TO COMBAT FRAUD IN PUBLIC PROGRAMS

Wednesday, March 27, 2019

March 27, 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA CONTACT:
Amanda Tinsley
651-297-8134
Amanda.Tinsley@house.mn

News Release

REP. THEIS COAUTHORS PACKAGE OF PROPOSALS TO COMBAT FRAUD IN PUBLIC PROGRAMS

St. Paul, MN – House Republicans have unveiled a comprehensive proposal to crack down on fraud in Minnesota’s public programs, with an emphasis on the Child Care Assistance Program. The legislative proposal is in response to the nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor’s report that found widespread and pervasive fraud in the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP).

“It is incredibly important that we crack down on the rampant fraud in the CCAP program,” said Theis. “The new penalties and safeguards in this bill will go a long way towards making our public programs work for the people who qualify, and making sure fraudsters can’t take advantage of Minnesota taxpayers anymore. I hope Governor Walz and House Democrats support this commonsense bill to make sure our tax dollars are being spent wisely.”

The Republican proposal has five key goals:

  1. Increased consequences for committing fraud: Increase penalties and consequences for committing fraud to send a strong message to fraudsters that the state will not tolerate this criminal behavior.
  2. Provider Controls: Provide better controls on the front end to prevent fraud from occurring in the first place. Simply put, it is too easy for those who want to do wrong to defraud Minnesota taxpayers.
  3. Investigations & Prosecutions: Give additional tools to investigators to aid in their investigations, and to prosecutors to ensure fraudsters are brought to justice.
  4. Eligibility Reforms: Eliminate eligibility for those found to have committed fraud, require enhanced eligibility checks from the Department of Human Services, and direct savings from eligibility checks to the Health Care Access Fund.
  5. Oversight: The legislative auditor recommended that the Office of Inspector General become an independent entity. The proposal includes that recommendation.

To date, House Democrats have refused to hold hearings on the OLA report in the House, and have only recently brought in DHS to discuss fraud in general before the Early Childhood Committee.

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