Public Assistance Fraud Investigation (H 5076, Art. 3, Sec. 12)

The ACLU of RI opposed a provision in the budget which would provide new authority to the Office of Internal Audit and Program Integrity to investigate reports of alleged fraud in public assistance programs. This budget article appears to play into the "pervasive welfare fraud" trope and inappropriately and unnecessarily singles out the poorest memebrs of our state for special scrutiny. We fear that too often people will be unnecessarily subjected to increased investigations over errors that do not constitute fraud because of the emphasis this budget proposal points to.