This week, the House Fraud Oversight Committee held its first hearing to investigate how state agencies manage taxpayer dollars. We heard testimony from Legislative Auditor Judy Randall and Deputy Auditor Jodi Munson Rodriguez, who outlined serious failures in the management of state-funded grants to nonprofits. The testimony revealed that Minnesota has seen an estimated $610 million in fraud and waste, and it’s clear that state agencies are not doing enough to prevent it.

The Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) report highlighted several key concerns:

• Lack of oversight – Agencies often fail to require grant managers to take available training in grant administration. While the Office of Grants Management provides some training modules, it appears there is no training in fraud prevention or close-out evaluations. These gaps in financial oversight training lead to weak management that doesn’t enforce existing grant management standards.

• Weak grant management statutes – The Office of Grants Management has the authority to stop payments on grants when fraud is detected but is not required to do so. We need to change the law from “may stop payment” to “must stop payment” to ensure immediate action when fraud is identified.

Our bipartisan committee will continue to hold hearings to uncover problems in agency practices and state law that need to be addressed to ensure taxpayer dollars go to those in need, not those looking to exploit the system. I will keep pushing for stronger safeguards, clearer oversight requirements, and real accountability for agencies that fail to protect public funds.