Representative Kristen Robbins, who represents District 37A (Western Maple Grove and western Hennepin County) and chairs the new Fraud and State Agency Oversight Committee in the Minnesota House, told reporters that the committee’s first scheduled public hearing was canceled after Department of Human Services Commissioner Jodi Harpstead declined the invitation.

Robbins said the cancellation did not end the committee’s work. “We still wanted to show you that we are here doing the work,” she said, adding the panel will continue meeting with whistleblowers, prepare additional hearings and publish materials online that the canceled hearing would have presented.

The announcement came during a brief floor or press appearance in which Robbins said the committee had invited Harpstead and a second witness, Bill Glahn, a senior policy fellow at the Center of the American Experiment, to discuss alleged fraud and the center’s “fraud and waste tracker.” Robbins said Glahn’s tracker and testimony documented multiple cases under investigation and litigation.

Robbins said allegations of large-scale fraud date to 2019; in her remarks she described the total as substantial but did not provide a precise, independently verified figure. She specifically named the federally funded Feeding Our Future case and said a related trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 3. “I know the second Feeding Our Future trial starts on February 3rd,” she said. Former U.S. Attorney Andy Lugar was quoted in her remarks as saying, “I think there needs to be a lot more done and people need to have more serious conversations about getting to the root of this and stopping it before it happens.”

Robbins accused the governor of discouraging agency cooperation with the committee, saying the governor “told his commissioners not to show up” and that the administration had not complied with information requests. Robbins said the committee remains committed to bipartisan oversight and hopes Democratic colleagues will participate when the House can lawfully form a quorum and convene hearings.

On whistleblower protections, Robbins said her office has received numerous contacts in recent weeks and is creating a committee webpage portal where whistleblowers can submit information confidentially. “In the last 2 weeks, I can't count the number of whistleblowers who have reached out to us from state agencies,” she said, later adding that “at least two dozen people have reached out over the last week.” Robbins said one prospective whistleblower was told by their employer they were not allowed to speak with her office.

Robbins said she is chief authoring a bill intended to expand whistleblower protections; she said the measure had a Senate hearing scheduled for the day after her remarks but that that hearing was also canceled. She described planned future committee topics that include the Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP), medical transportation and other issues raised by whistleblowers.

Robbins said she has a scheduled private meeting with Commissioner Harpstead while Harpstead is still in office and that, if the committee can be lawfully formed and members attend, she would try to schedule a public hearing as soon as Friday at 8:15 a.m. She urged bipartisan participation, saying oversight of the executive branch is a legislative duty and that “neither party wants to see taxpayer money wasted or citizens not getting services.”

There were no formal motions or votes attached to Robbins’s remarks during this appearance.

What’s next: Robbins said the committee will keep meeting with whistleblowers, publish materials the canceled hearing would have covered, and pursue hearings on individual programs once members can convene. She also said outreach and a whistleblower portal will be available through the committee’s web page.