Rep. Torkelson Opposes Governor Walz’s Human Services Reform Plan That Gives Even More Authority to the Administration

ST. PAUL – With at least $9 billion stolen from state taxpayers due to fraud that has gone unchecked in Minnesota for years, Governor Walz has unveiled plans to centralize control over Medicaid spending inside the Department of Human Services (DHS).

State Representative Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska), who co-chairs the Minnesota House Ways and Means Committee, said the idea will turn out to be a costly power grab.

“There’s no good reason to give more responsibility to an agency that has repeatedly proven to be irresponsible,” Torkelson said.

As part of the governor’s “transformation” of human services, Managed Care Organizations would be eliminated to give recipient eligibility decisions to DHS. Torkelson said this decision will lead to the hiring of many more permanent state employees, which will add to Minnesotans’ tax burden as the state already faces a more than $3 billion deficit in the next budget cycle.

At a press conference announcing his plan, Walz admitted he was warned about problems at DHS before he became governor, yet Torkelson notes he has not addressed any of these issues for nearly eight years. His new human services commissioner was recently promoted after allowing fraud to occur for years in her role as Chief Compliance Officer.

“Recently lawmakers tried to view a report about oversight in Minnesota’s autism services program, and the administration blacked out 90% of it,” Torkelson said. “This might be the least transparent administration in our state’s history, and centralizing even more control internally will only make matters worse.”

Torkelson said he and the governor did find some areas of agreement, especially on technology modernization. Torkelson has led the charge in the Minnesota House towards modernizing software for Minnesota’s counties so they can reliably implement social programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid. He said old equipment and outdated software must be improved, especially at a time when fraud in human services programs is running rampant.

“I agree with the governor that Minnesota is a great place to live and raise a family,” Torkelson said. “Unfortunately, it is also among the worst places to pay taxes. Giving a flailing administration more authority at greater taxpayer expense is neither accountable nor transparent, it’s just plain dumb.”