Criteria compliance requirement to get state grants clears committee

Certifying one’s eligibility could become a criterion to receive a state grant.

“This bill implements a simple concept that entities that steal from the state government should not be eligible for government grants,” Rep. Emma Greenman (DFL-Mpls) said in support of HF3093, a bill she sponsors to prohibit state agencies from awarding a grant of $50,000 or more to an individual or related entity that does not certify compliance with a specified set of criteria.

Approved, as amended, Thursday by the House State Government Finance and Policy Committee, it’s next stop is the House Ways and Means Committee.

State statute currently provides for some financial review of grant and business subsidy recipients, but this would add minimum eligibility criteria including good standing in paying taxes, being compliant with workers’ compensation, contributing to unemployment insurance and paid leave, not having repeated state or federal labor law violations, and leadership has not been convicted of fraud crimes.

A fiscal note shows a $20,000 cost in the current biennium.

Greenman said the Department of Administration has had instances where someone ineligible constructs themselves in a different way to keep getting grants. “We want to avoid that circumvention to prevent bad actors from getting around legal descriptions. … We want to ensure fraudsters who cheat our taxpayers are cut off from other sources of funding.”

“This bill combined with our strong [Office of Inspector General] bill that we recently passed out of committee really, to me, bookends both deterring and prosecuting fraud,” said Rep. Tom Sexton (R-Waseca).