Dear neighbors, Like many of you, I have been disgusted by the fraud against our state, which has wasted taxpayer dollars and stolen from people who desperately need services. Here’s an update on our plans to fight fraud and ensure the integrity of Minnesota’s public programs. First, let me be clear: I firmly believe in a strong social safety net backed by the state. It’s a core tenet of good governance. To deliver on this promise, state agencies overseeing these programs must operate with transparency, accountability, and efficiency. We can fight fraud while giving the safety net the strengthening it deserves. For the last five years, several of our agencies - particularly the Department of Human Services (DHS) - have struggled with ensuring state funds are going towards their intended use. This, compounded by a decades-long trend toward outsourcing programs and program oversight to private entities, created an environment ripe for fraud. Which it did, with bad actors creating entire business models with the sole purpose of exploiting holes in public programs for personal gain. I have also been sorely disappointed by the responses from executives at both the state and federal levels. At the state level, Governor Walz has addressed this critical issue with a sledgehammer, where a scalpel would be more appropriate. Broad funding freezes and payment delays have hurt legitimate service providers' ability to render services to folks in critical need of care. This can be life or death for some people. To make matters worse, the federal government recently announced that it would withhold nearly $260 million per quarter from Minnesota in Medicaid funding for these critical services. Despite Vice President J.D. Vance's claims that this action is meant to hold the leaders of Minnesota accountable, this $1 billion annual cut will only hurt the most vulnerable in our state. This is not accountability. This is cruelty. All the while, Minnesota Republicans choose to scapegoat Minnesota’s Somali community instead of investigating the systemic issues that enabled bad people to defraud our state. Despite their vocal outrage about fraud, Minnesota Republicans have yet to offer a serious policy solution to the problem. While the Minnesota Senate wrote legislation to establish an Office of Inspector General - a crucial step in combatting fraud - the legislation needs strengthening before it could be passed and administered in a clear manner. My colleague from Blaine, Rep. Matt Norris, has a bill to do just that. Too often, people want to play politics. I am grateful to outline our answer in what we’re doing to fight fraud. It’s not about shaking your fist, or scapegoating communities. We have put in the hard, quiet work to fix the problem. While the Feds have chosen cruelty, we have chosen accountability and compassion. Ever since I was sworn in to the Minnesota House of Representatives almost a year ago, I have worked alongside my House DFL colleagues to craft a network of interconnected policies that will prevent fraud before it happens, increase oversight of vulnerable programs, recover stolen funds, and help ensure service continuity for those in need. The House DFL unveiled our anti-fraud agenda just last week. Please click the following link to see how DFLers are fighting and Preventing Fraud in 2026. I have split our policies into different categories below, more in-depth Overarching (All Categories Below) HF 3423 (Hicks): This bill is the most comprehensive overhaul of DHS-administered programs, strengthening prevention during service provider enrollment into Medicaid programs through DHS, by creating fraud-risk categories, pursuant to federal law. Prevention HF 1911 (Virnig): State IT systems are ancient and often come with a huge lag in the amount of time it takes to retrieve information about the programs they administer. A much-needed overhaul of state IT systems is needed to catch fraud more quickly and prevent it in the future. HF 3634 (Noor): Adds Electronic Visit Verification requirements to "high-risk" programs, pursuant to federal law, in addition to empowering a commissioner to designate other programs that require these verifications. HF 3093 (Greenman): Strengthens protections to ensure that projects that receive state dollars do not misclassify workers, a type of fraud often used by employers to evade payroll taxes and avoid other aspects of necessary oversight. HF 1855 (Greenman): Requires accreditation with the U.S. Veterans Affairs for anyone who provides veterans benefits services to veterans in exchange for compensation. This prevents predatory practices. Oversight HF 1338 (Norris): This bill establishes an Office of Inspector General, a non-partisan office investigating allegations of fraud, waste, and more. HF 3422 (Hicks): Adds additional site visit requirements for grants of different sizes. HF 3293 (Howard): Establishes a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Prosecution HF 2354 (Norris): Strengthens penalties for those convicted of Medicaid fraud. Service Continuity HF 3666 (Fischer): This bill promotes service continuity to individuals in need of critical care by transitioning from case management administered by third party contractors to direct administration by counties over several years. These policies build upon the work that we did in 2025 to fight and prevent fraud against public programs. Please click on the links below to view handouts highlighting the work DFLers have passed over the last couple of years to address fraud, improve systems, and increase transparency. We continue to develop more accountability measures for those who misuse or commit fraud against our public programs. It is our duty to make sure we get this right. As DFL House Caucus Leader Zack Stephenson said, "A dollar of fraud is a dollar too much." I couldn't agree more. It is my greatest hope that my Republican colleagues get serious about addressing fraud, not just yelling about it, and join us in fine-tuning and promoting these measures. Even as we seek restitution for the harms done to our state by a vengeful federal government and strive to make Minnesota a place where all can thrive, not just survive, we must also make sure that our government is accountable, transparent, and effective. This is no small task, but it is necessary. Indeed, if we are to justify having a strong social safety net backed by the state, it is the work we must do. I look forward to continuing that work. In solidarity, Rep. David Gottfried State Representative House District 40B |