In 2009, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed into law Connecticut’s False Claims Act, giving the office of the attorney general authority to investigate and civilly prosecute fraud and abuse of taxpayer funds. In conjunction with our federal partners in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, we have recovered over $175 million in misspent public dollars since then, but the law had one glaring loophole. It applied only to health care spending. That loophole has hamstrung Connecticut’s anti-corruption efforts for over a decade. It’s time for that to change.
That’s why I have asked the Connecticut General Assembly this year to right that historic wrong and to ensure every public dollar is equally protected from fraud and abuse.
No one believes fraud is somehow limited to health care spending. I would guess most Connecticut residents — and many lawmakers — have no idea that the attorney general is statutorily blocked from pursuing civil fraud cases involving construction of our highways, bridges and schools. Most would be surprised to learn that the state cannot civilly prosecute misuse of COVID-19 relief funds.
Connecticut has an unusually weak False Claims Act. Every one of our bordering states, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, have broad False Claims Acts that apply to all state agencies and programs. Only 10 states nationwide restrict their False Claims Act authority to health care spending. That’s not a club we want to be in anymore.
False Claims Act statutes are not new. The federal...
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