Legislative Update from Rep. Kristin Robbins

March 6, 2026

Dear Friends & Neighbors,

Week 3 at the Capitol brought one of my favorite days of the legislative year: the Humane Society’s Puppy Day! 

This is a favorite day for legislators and staff – we get to learn about efforts to improve the welfare of animals in our state AND we get to hold the puppies!

Executive Summary

• ADDRESSING FRAUD IN NON-EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION PROGRAMS
• ELIMINATING TAXES ON TIPS AND OVERTIME
• MAPLE PLAIN FIRE DEPARTMENT PENSION BILL
• PHOTOS

ADDRESSING FRAUD IN NON-EMERGENCY MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION PROGRAMS

This week’s House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee hearing focused on Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT), a needed program that provides a ride to medical appointments for vulnerable and elderly adults in our state. Unfortunately, it is yet another program that seems rife with fraud.

Data shows that since this program was listed as high risk last fall, ridership dropped by 62% in the last quarter of 2025. It’s a stunning number and is an indicator of how much potential fraud is in this program.

In 2011, a report issued by the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) stated that there should be GPS tracking for all the transportation providers so we can track exactly how many miles they’ve logged and if they are actually transporting people to appointments.

Fifteen years later, despite dozens of credible whistleblower reports from insurance providers and recipients, as well as actual criminal convictions, these changes have never been implemented.   

We continue to see fictious logs with recipients who do not exist or billing for multiple individual trips when riders were actually grouped together in a van. We also see how providers purposely took recipients to clinics that were the furthest allowed under the law (60 miles), bypassing much closer locations so they could maximize billing.

GPS tracking would truly crack down on the fraud, but DHS has resisted this for years saying it’s too expensive, even though the cost is roughly $30 per driver each month. This seems like a small price to pay to safeguard taxpayer money. If you run a company that wants to transport individuals at taxpayer expense, GPS should be a common-sense requirement to do business with the State of Minnesota.

To be clear, we want non-emergency medical transportation to continue, but it’s clear that we need new guardrails in place to ensure that vulnerable citizens are safe and taxpayer funds are protected. 

To address these problems, the Fraud Committee members have introduced bills that require GPS to be installed in each NEMT vehicle and also require three years of financial documentation before a business can provide these waivered Medicaid services.

ELIMINATING TAXES ON TIPS AND OVERTIME

One of the ways we can help families keep more of what they earn is to conform to the federal law that eliminates taxes on tips and overtime. 

Congress approved a new federal tax law eliminating taxes on both items last year and Minnesota has to “conform” to federal law if those federal tax exemptions are going to apply to state taxes as well. If you recently worked on your income taxes, you may have noticed that you needed to add that income back in to your reported earnings when filling out your state tax return.

My bills, HF 3524 and HF 3525 would create a matching state subtraction for both overtime and tip income. Both of these bills were heard in the House Taxes Committee on Tuesday and “laid over” - which means they may be included in a comprehensive tax package later in the session.

MAPLE PLAIN FIRE DEPARTMENT PENSION BILL

This week my bill, HF 3512, which addresses a pension merger for the Maple Plain Fire Department was heard in the Pensions Committee. As many people in our district know, the Maple Plain Fire Department recently merged with the West Suburban Fire District in Loretto. This was a big decision in our community as the Maple Plain Fire Department had proudly served our communities in Western Hennepin County for 100 years.   

The bill deals with issues surrounding the need to close the Maple Plain Fire Department’s statewide volunteer firefighter pension plan. It is incredibly complicated, but we had an excellent meeting with the professional pension committee staff and all of the firefighters in December and they came up with their own unique solution that was supported by the vast majority of the firefighters. 

The Committee decided more discussion was needed and the bill was “laid over” for future consideration. I will be sure to keep you updated on its progress as session moves forward.

PHOTOS

I always love seeing the Rockford Schools FFA at the Capitol! These young women have already developed impressive leadership and communications skills and are well on their way to pursuing their dreams!

It was good to visit with area nurses this week and learn about the issues important to them.

I was also able to speak with members of the Orono Youth in Government group at the Capitol this week! It’s always good to see our youth taking an active interest in government.

Please Contact Me

Many of you have already been in touch to discuss your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you. Thank you for sharing your ideas! Please continue to contact me to discuss any matters to which I can be of assistance.

The best way to reach me is by email: rep.kristin.robbins@house.mn.gov. For occasional updates, you can follow my Facebook Page at @RepKristinRobbins. You can also leave a voicemail on my office number, 651-296-7806, which is checked every weekday while we are in session.

Of course, if you are coming to the Capitol, I’d love to meet you! Please reach out if you would like to set-up an in-person meeting. 

Have a great weekend!