Dear Neighbor,
It has been another week of more developments on fraud and House Democrats blocking bills that would help Minnesotans.
There’s a lot to talk about but, before we get to those notes, I want to mention hearings for a couple important bills I’ve authored are scheduled to take place next week. One bill addresses apprentice/journeyman staffing ratio problems caused by the state’s new paid leave program when a journeyman takes extended leave.
The other bill helps the eight energy host communities backfill revenue they are losing as our state transitions away from the power these facilities generate. Large-scale operations, such as Sherco in Becker, account for significant portions of local tax bases and my bill provides relief for local residents.
Look for more as these bills receive hearings. For now, here are some other notes from this week in the House:
Public safety
Many of the public safety issues we’re seeing in Minnesota are linked to bad policies that make coordination between state and federal law enforcement more difficult, or impossible. Over a two-year period, Hennepin County complied with only about eight percent of ICE detainers, while Ramsey County complied with just six percent.
The problem is, when jails do not honor these detainers, law enforcement does not stop. It simply shifts into the community. As a result, officers must locate individuals in neighborhoods or workplaces, increasing the risk for everyone involved.
At the same time, polling shows that 85 percent of Minnesotans support cooperation between local law enforcement and federal authorities in at least some circumstances. In response, House Republicans introduced H.F. 16, which is intended to address these situations in the safer, more controlled environment of a jail. Democrats voted against advancing that bill this week, blocking a common-sense approach to improving public safety.
Plug pulled on housing program
In a unanimous vote, the House this week repealed the Housing Stabilization Services program from state law because it was plagued by rampant fraud and had poor oversight. Instead of halting payments, DHS just kept sending tens of millions in taxpayer dollars out the door. All told, hundreds of millions of public dollars were misused, much like the Feeding Our Future case.
Eliminating this program will remove around nine pages of state statute. In other words, it’s a good start. Let’s hope the Senate passes this bill (H.F. 3379) asap.
OLA says DHS was wrong
A new report from the non-partisan Office of the Legislative Auditor says DHS was wrong in its failure to act on alleged kickbacks in the Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program. One look at the numbers tells you something is off with this program, with providers and payments increasing at an alarming rate from approximately $1 million in 2017 to around $343 million by 2024. But DHS sat on its hands and claimed it was unable to act due to a lack of authority. The report confirms DHS did, in fact, have the power to investigate and intervene. This represents a clear failure of leadership and oversight by the Walz administration, which has repeatedly allowed fraud risks to go unaddressed. Click here for more on this issue.
Affordability in MN
Minnesota has an affordability problem and House Republicans are working on solutions. We’ve introduced numerous bills to take the tax burden off people in our state, including through no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime and reducing car tab fees, to name just a few.
Meanwhile, House Democrats continue standing in the way, drumming up partisanship where it doesn’t belong. This week, they blocked a bill (H.F. 3127) that would allow Minnesota businesses to benefit from a new federal provision enacted by President Trump. This would cost the state exactly zero dollars and should have been a slam dunk to pass, but House Democrats made every excuse under the sun to block it anyway.
Meanwhile, the governor issued his supplemental budget recommendations and, among other things, he’s looking to take away the sales tax revenue counties generate from cannabis, while also cutting funding for special education and nursing homes. These are all non-starters, as far as I’m concerned.
Stay tuned for more from the House soon and have a good weekend.
Sincerely,
Shane