Dear friends and neighbors,
Our state faces another tough budget year, and we are again focused on finding ways to save money where we can. I have three proposals this session that will help us do just that.
Fraud Prevention Act
The people of Washington state expect that we are careful, frugal, and deliberate when we spend public money and that we have safeguards against fraud. That’s why I introduced the bipartisan Fraud Prevention Act to improve oversight and make sure we have adequate anti-fraud measures in place.
Washington state already has several bodies charged with preventing fraud, including the Washington State Auditor’s Office, legislative oversight entities like the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Committee, numerous government oversight boards and commissions, including citizen oversight boards, audit units within state agencies, and more. However, many state programs’ fraud-prevention measures are not easily accessible to the public.
Renewed scrutiny of daycare fraud in Minnesota prompted the Senate Early Learning and K-12 Education Committee to hold a work session on what exactly our state is doing to prevent fraud in this area.
We learned about the many steps needed to actually get a childcare license, including at least one and often more than one in-person visit from a licensor. We learned that the Department of Children, Youth, and Families conducts unannounced site visits to every licensed childcare provider at least once per year, requires childcare facilities to submit videotaped evidence of interactions with children before they receive public money (and every three years thereafter), conducts audits to verify the accuracy of payments, and investigates when concerns arise. The Department of Social and Health Services has an Office of Fraud and Accountability dedicated to investigating allegations of fraud.
It took this work session, as well as conversations with the Department of Children, Youth, and Families, and others, for me to understand clearly the anti-fraud protections we have in place in our child care program. We need clear, accessible information across other state programs: both so that we can understand the safeguards already in place, and so that we can take action and improve our protections where they’re not sufficiently strong.
My Fraud Prevention Act, SB 6215, heard in committee today, would require the State Auditor to prepare a comprehensive list of state programs that have been audited within the last 10 years, along with plain-language summaries of each program’s key internal controls and anti-fraud measures. It would also ask the State Auditor to highlight any programs where the Legislature or Governor should pay closer attention.
Repealing a data center tax break
The Sabey Data Center in Quincy, Washington. KUOW Photo/Megan Farmer
I was glad to see that Gov. Bob Ferguson’s supplemental budget proposal partly repeals a tax break the Legislature gave data centers several years ago. This tax break was intended to attract investment in jobs, particularly in rural communities. However, data centers have created fewer permanent jobs than expected while consuming enormous amounts of energy. I was the only House Democrat to vote against the latest expansion of the data center tax break, and have rejected these tax breaks from the beginning because I did not think it was a prudent use of public money. SB 6231 would end the state’s sales tax exemption on replacement server equipment for qualifying data centers starting July 1, 2026. This would give operators time to plan while ensuring they contribute more fairly to the grid and infrastructure they use.
Keeping public dollars in our public schools
The pandemic taught us that students should be in school with their teachers in person. We are spending roughly $100 million annually on online schools, and some of that money is going to for-profit companies. Another bill of mine, heard in committee this week, would ensure public dollars are not going to full-time, for-profit online schools.
I am always looking for more ways to save public money; please feel free to send any of your ideas!
Sincerely,
Drew Hansen
