5 EYEWITNESS NEWS Investigation Prompts Changes to MN Welfare Laws

An on-going 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation into Welfare Waste, led by reporter Mark Albert, examines how taxpayer money is being spent on public assistance programs.

Beginning in November 2010, our stories found a benefits bonanza that might leave you shaking your head: cigarettes, alcohol, lottery tickets - even tattoos - can be bought with your money. We found welfare cash can be used for all sorts of things never intended, from the Twin Cities to the U-S Virgin Islands. And it's all legal. After our reports, lawmakers demanded action and the state began to reform the system.

In February 2011, we showed how welfare cash - taxpayer money - could be withdrawn at ATMs inside some casinos and bingo halls and then gambled away.

In May 2011, our investigation found millions of dollars are being spent on childcare that doesn't exist, and for families and providers that don't qualify. At the same time, thousands of families are placed on a waiting list for childcare, told there isn't enough money left to help them.

In July 2011, lawmakers passed and the governor signed broad changes to Minnesota's welfare laws as a result of our investigation.

Watch our investigations below and access our web exclusive content.

Watch Our Investigation:

THURSDAY, November 11, 2010
	Want a tattoo? A pack of smokes? Use welfare cash. It's unrestricted and unregulated
FRIDAY, November 12, 2010
	State lawmakers react to our investigation, calling for welfare reform.
SUNDAY, November 14, 2010
	We go inside one Minnesota county's fight against multi-million dollar welfare waste
MONDAY, November 15, 2010
	Federal agents raid a Twin Cities store being investigated as an alleged clearinghouse for welfare fraud.
TUESDAY, January 4, 2011
	The state implements changes to the welfare system after our investigation
THURSDAY, January 20, 2011
	Lawmakers introduce a bill to further reform Minnesota welfare after our investigation
THURSDAY, February 10, 2011
	We uncover a failure in the system that lets welfare benefits be withdrawn at some casinos and bingo halls
TUESDAY, March 15, 2011
	The welfare reform bill introduced at the Capitol after our investigation gets its first Legislative hearing - and tougher language.
TUESDAY, May 24, 2011
	The state is overpaying millions of dollars in child care and some accuse D.H.S. of lacking the oversight to stop it.
WEDNESDAY, May 25, 2011
	Thousands of families are forced to wait for help while the state overspends on unqualified child care.
TUESDAY, August 2, 2011
	The Legislature passes and the governor signs broad reforms to welfare laws as a result of our investigation.
WEDNESDAY, November 16, 2011
	Counties make changes to childcare assistance after we compiled welfare records the state never has.
THURSDAY, November 17, 2011
	The new top cop at DHS, whose job is root out waste, fraud, and abuse, gives us his first television interview.
TUESDAY, April 3, 2012
	The EBT Business Task Force issues its final report, with a potentially controversial idea.
TUESDAY, May 8, 2012, 10pm
	A grocery store owner profiled in our investigation is sentenced to prison for welfare fraud.
THURSDAY, May 24, 2012
	Minnesota one of top states for key measure of food stamp fraud; government to take new steps.
WEDNESDAY, July 4th, 2012
	Law takes effect revoking welfare benefits if used to buy alcohol or tobacco products.
THURSDAY, September 6, 2012
	More Minnesota welfare reform to take effect this month, including new EBT cards
FRIDAY, March 15, 2013
	DHS asks lawmakers to create a Child Care Assistance Program fraud unit to crack down on welfare waste.

Web Exclusive Content: 

• Click here for an interactive map to find out how much your county overspent and collected on child care from 2006-2010, how that compares to total expenditures and to the state's other counties, and how much the top provider in each county made from families and the state. (11/2011)   
• Click here to see Minnesota's counties ranked by their overpayment rate for 2006-2010.
• Click here to read the changes to Minnesota's welfare laws passed by the 2012 Legislature and signed into law that take away EBT card benefits if a client uses them to buy alcohol or tobacco. (07/01/2012)
• Click here to read the changes to Minnesota's welfare system passed by the 2011 Legislature and signed into law by Governor Mark Dayton as a result of our investigation.
• Click here to watch the raw interview with new DHS Inspector General Jerry Kerber.  (11/17/2011) 
• Click here to read the announcement of the creation of an Inspector General Chief Counsel to focus on "the most complicated fraud cases." (03/12/2012)
• Click here to read the scathing Legislative Audit of the DHS program. (05/2011)

• Click here to watch an extended clip from our interview with Dep. Legislative Auditor Cecile Ferkul discussing her agency's finding that there is a lack of oversight of the Child Care Assistance Program at DHS (05/2011)

• Click here to read the letter from Rep. Nora Slawik (DFL-Maplewood), issued in response to our story, calling on DHS to make sure overpayments and lax oversight, "do not continue to occur."

• Click here to watch the full interview with MN DHS Dep. Commissioner Anne Barry responding to our investigation (05/25/2011)
• Click here to see the year-by-year breakdown of Public Assistance Theft case filings in Minnesota, which have dropped 31% in the past five years, even as the state spends millions more in the child care program.

• View an interactive map of all 54,751 out-of-state MN EBT card transactions for the month of September 2010, stretching across the country, including in Hawaii and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

• View a list of the Minnesota EBT card transactions by state.

• View an interactive map of all 101 transactions at liquor stores in the U.S. where Minnesota EBT cards were used and for how much in September 2010.

• View an interactive map of all 330 Minnesota welfare transactions totaling $25,800 at ATMs inside casinos and bingo halls in six states during the past two years.

• Read the changes implemented by DHS on Jan. 4, 2011, ordered by then-Gov. Pawlenty after our investigation.
• See the changes in the Combined Application Form for benefits (changes in bright yellow on pgs. 12 & 13)

• Read Governor Pawlenty's Nov. 12, 2010 letter to the DHS commissioner in response to our story, ordering negotiations with the state's EBT vendor to "further prevent fraud."

• Read the statement from Rep. Jeff Hayden (DFL) reacting to Gov. Pawlenty's letter to the DHS commissioner.

• Read the Jan. 20, 2011 news release from House & Senate Republicans on introducing a welfare reform bill.

• Watch our interview with a DHS assistant commissioner about our Welfare Waste investigation (02/10/11)

• Read a statement from the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association (2/9/10)

• Minnesota Welfare Facts

• MFIP Program

• Minnesota Food Support Program

• How to Use an EBT Card

• What is Food Support?

• DHS Fraud Prevention Efforts

• Welfare and Healthcare Report