Committee presses DHS on outdated county systems and whistleblower protections

Committee members described county eligibility and billing systems that do not interoperate and rely on decades-old interfaces, a situation they said undermines program integrity and increases staff turnover. "They're using DOS from the nineties," Senator Glenn Gruenhagen said, arguing that multiple noncommunicating systems allow bad actors to move between systems; Bailey agreed that modernization is needed but said sustained funding is required.

Bailey told the committee DHS is working on proposed solutions and would return after the governor's budget to present planned system upgrades. "We absolutely need modernization in our systems to fully assess all the claims going through the system," she said, citing needs for machine learning, predictive analytics and better data to flag suspect claims.

Members also raised testimony from DHS employees who said they were treated harshly after reporting suspected fraud. Senators called for an accountability and oversight review; the committee discussed bringing senior DHS leadership and the Office of Inspector General before the committee for a deep dive.

Next steps: DHS will return with planned modernization approaches after the governor's budget is released and committee chairs signaled interest in additional oversight hearings focused on program-integrity processes and whistleblower protections.