Hello from the State Capitol,
Should city and county governments be punished for choosing not to fly the new Minnesota state flag? Believe it or not, House Democrats are now authoring a bill that would do just that.
Their proposal would mandate a 10% reduction in a city or county government’s state aid if that jurisdiction displays any flag other than the newly adopted one. In other words, they want to hurt those communities who refuse to comply with the outcome they created two years ago.
In 2023, Democrats created a 13-member commission to redesign Minnesota’s state flag and seal, neither of which were formally approved by voters or the state legislature. Instead, the law that created the cherrypicked commission specified that its final flag selection would automatically take effect as the official state flag.
Many were upset about the entire process. Since then, numerous city councils have voted to fly the 1983 version of the state flag on city-owned property, including Inver Grove Heights and Zumbrota.
This proposed legislation is an attack on local control. It is the prerogative of the city or county government to decide which state to fly, especially considering current law does not require them to fly the official state flag. If their residents feel strongly enough one way or another on the flag topic, elected city officials should be able to act on their behalf without fear that they could lose 10% of state funding.
FBI EXECUTES COURT-ORDERED SEARCH WARRANTS IN ONGOING FRAUD INVESTIGATION
Major fraud developments took place this week. On Tuesday, the FBI, working closely with federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies executed 22 court-approved federal search warrants in the State of Minnesota. All of them were connected to the investigation into Medicaid fraud, and it was reported that child and daycare providers primarily within the Twin Cities were targeted.
The Department of Homeland Security said the agency "executed criminal search warrants in Minneapolis relating to the rampant fraud of American taxpayers dollars," adding that DHS "will continue working to deliver answers to the American people on how their taxpayer dollars were abused."
The previous U.S. attorney estimated months ago that potentially $9 billion in Minnesota’s tax dollars had been lost to fraud. A recent KARE 11 report found Minnesota paid $4.32 billion last year in Medicaid reimbursements to the 14 programs now identified as being a high risk for fraud - more than double what it paid in 2021. Since 2018, $20 billion has been spent on the same high-risk programs.
To date, the Walz administration has tried to minimize the fraud that has tormented this state, trying to tell the public that evidence of rampant fraud in Medicaid programs does not exist. Be thankful the federal government is taking our fraud problem very seriously and is taking needed action to hold fraudsters accountable.
ANTI-GROOMING LEGISLATION APPROVED IN HOUSE
Legislation designed to stop grooming in Minnesota’s schools was unanimously approved in the Minnesota House recently and I was pleased to support it.
The plan strengthens protection for students against sexual grooming by providing clear field trip supervision rules, improving mandatory reporting and mandated reporter training to include grooming, and creating a new felony penalty for grooming. It also allows grooming of children and youth to become a more chargeable and recognizable offense.
LOCAL VISITS
It was good to visit with Hastings city officials recently, as they discussed their priority of clean drinking water.
I was also pleased to visit with Hastings and Cottage Grove fire chiefs to talk about their concerns and priorities concerning ambulance services and other related issues.
I also took part in a video call this week concerning fraud in our healthcare system and how to quickly find, eliminate and plan to avoid it in the future.
Have a good weekend,
Tom