Hello from St. Paul,
At least $9 billion.
That is the number Minnesota’s former U.S. attorney said has been stolen from state taxpayers due to fraud. We knew the fraud problem in Minnesota was awful, but when federal officials presented this number, it put the issue at a level few Minnesotans can comprehend. How did the Walz administration allow it to get to this point, and why? Why is little to no fraud prevention in place, and why does the administration only take it seriously when some enterprising reporter puts their findings on the news?
With the 2026 session now underway, I expect several topics to dominate headlines. Fraud will be at the top, but I also wanted to preview a handful of others.
FRAUD PREVENTION
House Republicans will once again present a package of legislation designed to stop the next big fraud scandal before it happens. It would create an independent Office of the Inspector General to investigate and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in Minnesota; require agencies to halt payments when fraud is suspected, rather than continuing to fund bad actors (which has already been proven); and establish a fraud reporting hotline for state employees and the public to report suspicious activity.
BANNING SANCTUARY CITIES
Whether you approve or disapprove of sanctuary cities, with recent Minneapolis events continuing to make the nightly news, expect significant debate on whether the state should allow them.
One proposal that made progress last year has two provisions that are notable. The first
mandates any illegal immigrant arrested on suspicion of a violent crime, even in cases where the county attorney elects not to prosecute, be reported to ICE. Second, this bill prevents state and local government entities from actively prohibiting, restricting, or interfering with federal immigration authorities in carrying out federal immigration enforcement—effectively a ban on “sanctuary city” policies.
PRESERVE GIRLS’ SPORTS ACT
Expect to see a revival of the Preserving Girls Sports Act. This is a bill that would prevent athletes who were born as boys from participating in girls sporting events. Not long ago, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that males who consider themselves a different gender have the right to compete on female teams, making this law necessary to maintain fairness and safety in girls’ sports.
I will be sure to keep up updated on these and other big-ticket bills making their way through the Minnesota House all session long.
ELECTION INTEGRITY – HENNEPIN COUNTY’S VOTER ROLLS CONTAIN THOUSANDS OF DUBIOUS VOTERS?
With billions of dollars of your tax dollars already lost to fraud, where else is this state vulnerable to exploitation by those who have billions of dollars, as well as their livelihoods, riding on it? To me, it’s a big leap of faith to believe that our elections system is squeaky clean when criminals have found numerous ways to steal from the state’s coffers.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon recently denied a U.S. Department of Justice request to share the state’s voter roll data with the federal government. However, when a state representative made a formal request for voter data information from four Minnesota counties, state law forced Simon to act, but not without some creative tap dancing.
After the lawmaker request, the Secretary of State’s Office contacted elections’ offices in all 87 Minnesota counties, telling them a public official had made a data request for master lists. The SOS then told county officials: “Provide only the data listed for the master list under state law: name, residence address, and full date of birth for all registered voters. You should not provide any other data in response to a request for the master list, including email address, voter registration status, or data on inactive voters.”
Well, Hennepin County sent its full list, and some of the results were shocking, as you’ll see below.
- 2,992 voters with missing data, most missing part of a name, address or birthdate – which by state and federal laws should trigger a stop
- 503 active voters aged 100 or older
- 7,779 “challenged” voters because of questions about their eligibility to vote
- One precinct with 21.6% - or 1 out of every 5 voters - as “challenged”
- Voters in large numbers with the same address
- Voters with the same name and address with two voter identifications
Once again, the Hennepin County voter roll issue cannot be spun by the far left as some whacko MAGA conspiracy theory. The numbers you see above are proven facts, coming straight from the source: Hennepin County.
When the state’s most populous county has thousands of, at best, questionable voter records, its clear action needs to be taken. Expect to hear more about election integrity this session and to see some scrutiny of the way the Secretary of State’s Office is handling, or in this case not handling, the clean up of the state’s voter rolls.
AT THE CAPITOL
In my committees this week, in transportation we discussed the high subsidy transit routes, and capital investment reviewed the governor’s bonding recommendations.
I also had plenty of visitors in St. Paul! They include Ellie Rasche and Lisa Fest from HLO schools, who are involved with the FCCLA.
Michelle Ebbers from Des Moines Valley Health and Human Services visited to discuss legislative needs.
A group of students from the University of Minnesota Duluth also stopped by!
And I was also able to meet Marta from the Windom Area Schools this week who was serving as a Minnesota House High School Page!
Have a good weekend,
Marj