Friends,
This week was Bemidji Day at the Capitol. It was great to see so many people from our community down in St. Paul.
Combating Daycare & Other Fraud
Minnesotans deserve to know the hundreds of millions of dollars spent every year on public programs are being spent wisely. I have joined my House Republican colleagues in co-authoring a package of proposals to combat the fraud documented in a report from the nonpartisan Office of the Legislative Auditor that found fraud within Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program to be widespread and pervasive.
The package introduced on Monday has five key goals:
- Increased consequences for committing fraud: Increased penalties and consequences for committing fraud to send a strong message to fraudsters that the state will not tolerate this criminal behavior.
- Provider controls: Provide better controls on the front end to prevent fraud from occurring in the first place.
- Investigations and prosecutions: Give additional tools to investigators to aid in their investigations, and to prosecutors to ensure fraudsters are brought to justice.
- 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.
- Oversight: Make the Office of Inspector General become an independent entity as recommended by the legislative auditor.
This package will help stop the fraud, save the money and make sure our tax dollars are used as intended.
Line 3 News
On Tuesday, the Public Utilities Commission voted to deny the Walz administration's petition to reconsider the certificate of need for the Line 3 replacement pipeline. This is the third unanimous vote the PUC has taken to uphold the certificate of need decision and even a former DFL Senator had some harsh words for the ongoing games being played by the Walz Administration.
This is great news for the safety and security of communities in northern Minnesota that need this replacement pipeline to be built.
I hope that the political games from the Walz administration end soon and that this pipeline can finally move forward—it is long overdue.
Stay in Touch
Please continue to stay in touch to share your thoughts or concerns. My phone number is 651-296-4265 or you can email me at rep.matt.grossell@house.mn.
Have a great weekend and God Bless!
Matt