Legislative Update from Rep. Kristin Robbins

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March 28, 2025

Executive Summary

• Fraud Committee Update

• Local Bills

• Eliminating the Marriage Tax Penalty

• Bill to require Consent for Sensitive Healthcare Exams

• Cell Phone-Free Schools

• Texting Scam Alert

• Photos

Fraud Committee Update

This week the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Committee received an overview of the Governor’s proposed fraud prevention package from the Commissioners of DHS, Education, Management & Budget, and the Superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). While there are some positive elements in the plan—such as creating new state crimes for kickbacks and theft of public funds—I also raised several concerns.

Despite the significant increase in funding, the Governor’s plan lacks any mechanisms for holding agency staff accountable that will drive the culture change we need to effectively combat fraud. Adding more staff to agencies that have failed to catch or act on fraud in the past is not a solution—it’s more of the same.

In addition, the Governor’s proposal for types of staff doesn’t seem to fit the need. His proposal adds just one forensic accountant to the BCA but adds 101 new compliance staff to DHS’ Office of Inspector General – which already has a staff of 491 people. During testimony, commissioners admitted no one has yet been fired for failure to identify and stop fraud. Until agency staff who oversee these programs know they will be held accountable for outcomes, nothing will change.

I have introduced a bill, based on testimony from earlier hearings, that will require anyone with program or grants management responsibilities go through training in fraud prevention, risk assessment, internal controls and proper reporting/closeout procedures.

Despite years of recommendations from the Office of the Legislative Auditor, this training is “recommended” but is NOT REQUIRED to be completed by agency staff. This is a simple but essential step toward protecting taxpayer dollars.

Another area of concern is the seeming lack of coordination between agencies on identifying a statewide grants management and fraud detection system. Every agency is working on their own internal system but we need something is enterprise-wide to ensure that different programs that interact are identifying and flagging fraud early and that information is accessible to every agency.

I am working with several colleagues to try to find a system-wide solution that can be tailored to specific agency needs while still allowing interagency interaction.

Two other quick updates from the Fraud Committee this week:

1. We’ve officially launched our secure whistleblower portal at MNFraud.com. This is a new way for agency workers, service providers, and concerned Minnesotans to report suspicious activity. While we cannot receive protected data directly, our team will review the submissions and follow up on anything that is actionable.
2. This week all 8 Members of the Fraud Prevention & State Agency Oversight Committee also sent out a bipartisan letter to our colleagues, asking them to limit legislatively-named grants in appropriations bills this session. This is something else the Office of the Legislative Auditor has been requesting for years. While it is certainly important that we hold the Executive Branch accountable for how it spends money, we must also hold ourselves in the Legislative Branch accountable. Competitive grants, not legislative earmarks, are best practice. You can read our letter here.

Local Bills

This week I had two local bills have hearings and I was happy to welcome the Mayor Mark Steffenson of Maple Grove and Mayor Nick Roehl of Greenfield to the Capitol to help present these bills! The first bill, heard in taxes, would provide a sales tax exemption for the City of Maple Grove on construction materials for the remodel of the community center. This would save the city millions of dollars in sales taxes paid to the state. Many cities put in requests for sales tax exemptions for municipal projects and we are hoping to eventually pass a bill to exempt all municipal projects from sales tax. Of course, given the current budget deficit, that is unlikely to pass, so we keep hearing individual requests. The second bill was to provide an additional $1.3 million in bonding for the City of Greenfield to finish paving Greenfield Road. The original bonding request was for $4.3 million in 2023, but they city only received $3 million, so getting the rest of the money this session would be of great help to the city’s strained budget. I greatly appreciate the strong partnership I have with all of the Mayors in our towns to help our local communities! I hope we can get these and other pending projects over the finish line for our district this year!

Eliminating the Marriage Tax Penalty

On Tuesday, I introduced House File 2197, a common-sense solution to help working families keep more of what they earn. The goal is simple: eliminate Minnesota’s “marriage penalty” in the child tax credit and expand the phase-out so more middle-class families qualify.

Minnesota’s tax code has some of the largest marriage penalties in the country – in both our standard deduction and our child tax credit. There is an enormous body of research from all sides of the political spectrum that shows that children do better educationally, economically, and socially when they are raised in stable, two-parent households. Studies also show that women’s economic status also improves in stable marriage relationships.

Last session, Minnesotans were promised middle-class tax relief, but they didn’t get it. Instead, they bore the brunt of $11 billion in tax increases, which included increases of the sales tax, gas tax, payroll taxes, license tabs, etc. Coupled with the double-digit increases in inflation and property taxes over the past few years, middle-class families have struggled to afford the basics.

My bill brings relief to middle-class families by eliminating the marriage penalty and raising the income thresholds for single parents and married filers so more families qualify. The current law begins to phase-out at just under $32,000 for single-filers and under my bill it will increase to $38,000. For married filers, the phase-out would expand to $75,000, eliminating the marriage penalty.

To keep the proposal budget-neutral, the bill offsets the cost by eliminating the Working Family Credit for adults without dependent children. It currently amounts to a tax credit of about $369/person for qualifying single adults and often goes to people without any tax liability. By eliminating this refundable tax credit, we can greatly expand tax relief to families with kids who do pay taxes.

Low-income adults without children will continue to qualify for a variety of social safety net programs designed to help them including food, housing, and medical assistance, free college, renters, and homestead credits, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, and other programs.

There was considerable debate in Committee about whether we should eliminate the state’s Working Family Credit for childless adults in order to provide middle class tax relief. While I am open to other ideas for to pay for this tax cut, I think it is a common-sense approach that can provide long-promised tax relief to families that they didn’t get last session while recognizing we are in a serious budget deficit.

As a side note, last week we heard a Democrat bill to eliminate the marriage penalty that all of my colleagues on that side of the aisle supported – they just didn’t have a way to pay for it and knew it would never pass. This is what we have seen time and time again in the last two years on the Tax Committee – cynical promises to provide middle-class tax relief without any serious proposals for how to pay for it.

You can see my remarks here. I will continue to try to find bipartisan solutions to make life more affordable for Minnesota families.

Bill Requiring Consent for Sensitive Healthcare Exams

This week, I finally had a hearing on a bill, HF 2371. I have been working on this bill for 6 years to ensure that “sensitive medical exams” – including pelvic, prostate, and breast exams – are not performed on anesthetized or unconscious patients by medical students without prior consent. This issue was brought to my attention during my first term and I was honestly horrified to realize this practice occurred in some places as part of medical training. Minnesota hospitals and medical schools have been quick to point out they do not train students in this manner, but the University of Minnesota only adopted an explicit policy on this in 2022, after I had been working on this bill for a couple of years. When I first introduced the bill, only 8 states had passed laws to ban this practice, but now 26 states have done so. My bill is similar to another bill brought forward this year by DFL Rep. Kaela Berg, so when my bill got a hearing when Republicans held the gavel, I asked her to join me in co-presenting the bill. The hearing went well and we got some suggested changes that we are now working to incorporate. I’m hoping the bill will make it through the committee process and we can finally have a vote on the House floor to ensure that sensitive exams can only be done for educational purpose with prior consent.

Cell Phone-Free Schools

Many parents, educators, and community members have raised concerns about the impact of smartphones on students’ mental health, focus, and academic performance. More schools across the country—and right here in Minnesota—are exploring cell phone-free learning environments as a way to improve classroom engagement and reduce distractions.

I strongly support this effort. Encouraging students to unplug during the school day helps create a healthier, more productive atmosphere where they can truly connect with their peers and concentrate on learning.

The good news is that schools already have tools available to help implement these policies. Whether it's locking phone pouches, structured storage systems, or updated usage guidelines, districts don’t need to start from scratch. I’ll be sharing more information soon about available resources to support administrators, teachers, and families who want to make this transition work.

Our kids deserve to learn in a setting free from constant digital distractions. I’m committed to helping local schools find real solutions that promote student well-being and academic success.

Texting Scam Alert

In case you haven’t seen this, I want to bring to your attention a recent scam that has been targeting Minnesotans, particularly in the metro area. Text messages have been sent pretending to be from MnDOT urging people to pay an outstanding toll for their EZ Pass (see photo on the right).This scam is coming from a number in the Philippines with a +63 country code and is sending these texts to almost all 612, 952, and 651 numbers. DO NOT click on the link or complete any payment! You can delete the text or report it here. If you want more information from MnDOT, you can find that here.

Photos

Last night I was honored to be part of celebrating the launch of the India Chamber of Commerce MN! These inspiring entrepreneurs are living the American dream and creating economic growth & opportunity for all Minnesotans. It was fun to catch up with many friends & meet keynote speaker, Danny Gaekwad. Congratulations to Chamber President Shajive Jeganathan and all of the founding members!

Great to have the Pastor of Sonlight Community Church in Maple Grove give the opening prayer in the House on Monday! It was nice to see you again!

Great to have City of Maple Grove, MN - Local Government Mayor Mark Steffenson & City Administrator Heidi Nelson at the Tax Committee for a hearing on a local sales tax exemption bill! So grateful for the terrific partnerships with our city leaders and for all the trips you make to St. Paul for our communities!

Please Contact Me

Many of you have already been in touch to discuss your thoughts on the issues that matter most to you. Thank you for sharing your ideas! Please continue to contact me to discuss any matters to which I can be of assistance.

The best way to reach me is by email: rep.kristin.robbins@house.mn.gov. For occasional updates, you can follow my Facebook Page at @RepKristinRobbins. You can also leave a voicemail on my office number, 651-296-7806, which is checked every weekday while we are in session.

Of course, if you are coming to the Capitol, I’d love to meet you! Please reach out if you would like to set-up an in-person meeting. 

Have a great weekend!

Kristin

239 State Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, MN 55155
ph: 651.296.7806