GOP MEMBERS OF HOUSE FRAUD COMMITTEE RESPOND TO GOVERNOR WALZ’S DECISION TO NOT SEEK RE-ELECTION

Chair Kristin Robbins and GOP Members of the Minnesota House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee issued the following statement after Governor Tim Walz announced he would not seek re-election this fall.

“For seven years, Governor Tim Walz had the opportunity to address Minnesota’s fraud epidemic. Despite years of reports from the Office of Legislative Auditor and whistleblowers, as well as news stories by local investigative journalists, he has consistently ignored or downplayed the problem – even accusing those who expose this criminal activity of being racist. Because of his failed leadership, potentially $9 billion has been stolen from Minnesota’s taxpayers.  This is still just the tip of the iceberg, as we are still uncovering new areas of fraud.

The work of the House Fraud Prevention & State Agency Oversight Committee has played a major role in uncovering the Walz Administration’s failures. Since our first hearing in February of 2025, we have held 15 hearings to expose fraud, hold agencies accountable and repeatedly point out failures in internal controls. Our committee also championed the expansion of whistleblower protections and created a portal – MNFraud.com – to ensure whistleblower complaints were protected and investigated. We also helped pass significant bipartisan legislation to strengthen internal controls, track the risk of fraud in proposed legislation, create a new state crime for kickbacks, and other measures that will tighten oversight of state funds.

We continue to work closely with the Office of the Legislative Auditor and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota to turn over credible allegations of fraud for further investigation by law enforcement. 

The impact of our work has been clear and has pressured the Walz Administration to belatedly take actions to pause payments, stop enrolling new providers, and require pre-payment review. They had the statutory authority to take all of these steps for years, but only recently started addressing fraud when the staggering scale of the problem could no longer be ignored. 

Minnesota has an unprecedented level of fraud that has been allowed to grow unchecked for years. Just because the governor is no longer running for office doesn’t mean the fraud problem will disappear.

Fraud is not a partisan issue – it is a crime. Minnesotans are rightfully outraged that their money is being stolen by people who seek to scam the system. Our committee will continue to work diligently in the coming session with every Member and agency who is serious about rooting out fraud.”