WC Minnesota News

Testimony during a joint hearing earlier this week into a report that found "troubling dysfunction" in the Minnesota Department of Human Services was a step in the correct – if still worrisome – direction, a state senator who has been highly critical of DHS said in a statement recently.

DHS Commissioner Jodi Harpstead "said all the right things" during Wednesday's joint hearing between the Senate's Health and Human Services committees to hear testimony from Harpstead and others, Sen. Michelle Benson, R-Ham Lake, said in her statement.

“Acknowledging they made errors and need to clean up their processes is an important step," Benson, who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee, said in her statement.

The District 31 senator added that she still wants "a straightforward answer" about what to expect when the federal government insists Minnesota repays $29 million in overpayments.

"Will DHS attempt to bury it in a forecast adjustment? Or will they be open and up front?" Benson asked. "If it's the former, I will have serious problems. I will be watching carefully to make sure they follow through on their promises and their accounting for these illegal payments is transparent."

Benson's statement came about two weeks after an earlier statement in which she described the state's DHS as "in complete turmoil."