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State senator updates Minnetrista leaders on bonding, school-bus law and Medicaid fraud bill
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Summary
Sen. Anne Johnson Stewart told the Minnetrista City Council the Legislature is nearing the end of session, described competing bonding proposals and outlined a Medicaid fraud bill that would add staff to the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and expand prosecutorial tools while protecting people who make accidental billing errors.
Sen. Anne Johnson Stewart visited the Minnetrista City Council to brief local officials on the state legislative session and to answer questions about bonding priorities and a Medicaid fraud bill.
"We are deep into session right now," Johnson Stewart said, explaining that the Senate is handling floor sessions and that lawmakers are negotiating a larger-than-the-governor bonding package. She said Minnetrista is on her list of priorities and urged residents to send letters to legislators to increase the city’s chances for funding.
Johnson Stewart highlighted differences between the governor’s proposal and the House figure, saying the House sought about $1.4 billion for capital investment. She also described two primary funding buckets for cities, including PFA programs for drinking- and wastewater projects, and said the Senate caucus intends to prioritize water infrastructure.
On the Medicaid fraud bill she is chief authoring, Johnson Stewart said the legislation combines a funding request to add staff to the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit with a policy package that expands definitions of fraud and allows prosecutors to aggregate multiple false-claim acts into single, more-manageable charges. She said federal matching would make investment in investigators cost-effective: "If we spend $1 they give us 3," she said of federal matches for staffing.
The senator emphasized a safeguard added to the statute to require proof of intent before criminal charges are pursued, so that family caregivers or others who make filing errors are not swept into prosecution. "We added intent so that if somebody accidentally submits something or has a math error, the attorney general's office is not able to actually charge them," she said.
Council members pressed for odds of passage and whether a House counterpart exists; Johnson Stewart said the bill has moved through several Senate committees and has a House sponsor. She offered to provide council members with data and copies of the bill upon request.
The senator concluded by encouraging local engagement on bonding requests and said she would keep the city updated as negotiations proceed.
