Dear Neighbor,
The 2026 legislative session has begun with critical issues to address and a narrowly divided Legislature: a 67-67 tie in the House and a one-seat Democratic majority in the Senate.
These tight margins made it especially challenging to pass the session’s most significant bills in 2025. The result was more balance than we had seen during the previous two years of one-party control. Both sides claimed victories, and no one got everything they wanted.
That’s a good thing for most Minnesotans.
Fraud has reached epidemic proportions, impacting nearly every corner of Minnesota’s government.
We must act. The Legislature needs to pass serious fraud prevention and accountability reforms this session. Every dollar lost to fraud isn’t stolen from the government – it is stolen from Minnesota taxpayers. We have been highlighting Minnesota’s fraud vulnerabilities for nearly a decade. The consistent response was “there will always be some fraud” and “we can’t stop it all.” Now the problem has grown so severe that it is impossible to deny.
Last year, a bill to create an independent office to root out fraud in government passed the Senate with strong bipartisan support (60-7). Despite that broad backing, the bill was repeatedly blocked on party lines in the House. This session, the bill has received hearings, but Rep. Matt Norris – the bill’s author – introduced an amendment at the behest of the governor’s office. It would place the anti-fraud office under the Governor’s control and strip its law enforcement authority to pursue fraud. Those changes render the bill ineffective, and it is now stranded in committee.
Fighting fraud should be a bipartisan issue – it already is in the Senate. Only one Democrat would need to break party lines in the House for the original bipartisan bill to pass. It is still early in the session, so I remain hopeful this will happen before adjournment.
Fraud is one issue I will be tackling as chair of the House Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee. It will be a central focus of our work. Fraud is especially bad in the childcare area. With the absurdly high cost of childcare this is even more henious. We need to ensure those who actually need assistance are the one's who get it. We made some strides last year, passing sections of my anti-fraud bill HF 1916. I will be authoring more anti-fraud measures this session so stay tuned.
Beyond addressing Minnesota’s fraud epidemic, continuing improvements to Highway 65 remain a top priority. I first secured funding for this project back in 2018 to get the process started. Five years later, we finally obtained the money to replace every stoplight between 99th and 117th Avenues. My goal this year is to launch the next phase, just as I did in 2018, to rebuild the section from 117th Avenue to Bunker Lake Blvd.
There is a lot of work to do this session. As your representative, it is my job to listen to constituents, so please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns. That’s what I’m here for.
Sincerely,
Nolan