{"id":269543,"date":"2026-04-15T19:52:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T19:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/269543\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T19:52:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T19:52:13","slug":"california-republicans-call-for-special-legislative-session-on-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/269543\/","title":{"rendered":"California Republicans call for special legislative session on fraud"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republicans in the California State Assembly on Wednesday ripped into Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and his state attorney general, Rob Bonta, for showboating on tackling fraud.<\/p>\n

The assemblymembers called for a focused legislative response to examine the full scope of fraud, including failures in oversight. Reforms are needed to protect taxpayer dollars, they said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor says he\u2019s stopping licensure, he already licensed this doctor, who defrauded us $270 million,\u201d said Assemblymember James Gallagher, who\u2019s also running for Congress. \u201cThis governor and the politicians that have had power here have done nothing about. They\u2019ve ignored it. And they continue to throw good money after bad. We\u2019re here to say enough is enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HeathHeath Flora, the current\u00a0Minority Leader of the California State Assembly, Speaks at the Stop the Fraud press conference. April 15, 2026. CA Assembly GOP\/Vimeo<\/p>\n

Fraud has been reported to exist in major state programs, including Medi-Cal, in-home supportive services, unemployment insurance, and infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

California is being investigated by a powerful congressional committee<\/a> after The California Post exposed rampant hospice fraud that\u2019s cost taxpayers more than $100 million.<\/p>\n

Highlights of fraud in the state have also been amplified by conservative Youtuber Nick Shirley and Dr. Mehmet Oz, head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are major focused on this issue, and I think our suspicion, our belief, is that the fraud in California will magnify whatever\u2019s happening in Minnesota<\/a>,\u201d United States Attorney Bill Essayli said. \u201cWhat\u2019s happening in Minnesota pales in comparison to the level of fraud that we believe is occurring in California.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsom and Bonta for much of the year have been trying to fend off attacks on their administration for widespread fraud. On April 9, Bonta made a major announcement<\/a> in charges against 14 hospice companies who had billed Medi-Cal and Medicaid for $267 million in non-existent services.<\/p>\n

\"CaliforniaCalifornia Attorney General Rob Bonta announces the dismantling of a major hospice fraud scheme. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been doing this work for years. We\u2019ve been doing it successfully before certain people in this country decided to think about it for the first time,\u201d Bonta said, referring to Republican attacks on the issue.<\/p>\n

Still, many questioned the announcement as Democrats trying to spin something positive off of a crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows how large this problem became before it was stopped,\u201d said Assembly GOP Leader Heath Flora. \u201cThe question is so simple: why did it take so long to get here?\u201d<\/p>\n

More announcements won\u2019t change a thing, Flora said, until structural reforms on oversight happen. It\u2019s why a special legislative session is necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cPut real funding behind enforcement and bring every department in and get answers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The special session call won\u2019t likely be heeded by Newsom or state Democrats who control the legislature. Newsom has continually insisted the state has always been tackling fraud.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government is now trying to intimidate and target California with baseless allegations of \u2018massive fraud,\u2019\u201d Newsom previously said in a statement. \u201cThe rule of law isn\u2019t a political weapon \u2014 it\u2019s a promise, and we won\u2019t let it be twisted to settle scores.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Republicans in the California State Assembly on Wednesday ripped into Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and his state attorney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,3130,13,15180,3586],"class_list":{"0":"post-269543","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-fraud","12":"tag-politics","13":"tag-republican-party","14":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}