A Washington state Democratic lawmaker introduced a bill that would exempt the sharing of personal information in public records for all child care providers in the state amid investigations into alleged Somali daycare fraud.
Democratic state Sen. Lisa Wellman sponsored SB 5926 on Dec. 22. The legislation aims to extend the public records exemption from applying only to family home child care providers to covering any licensed or certified providers of child care, according to the text summary. (RELATED: Trump Wants To Revoke Citizenship Of Every Somali Convicted Of Fraud, Press Sec Says)
Current Washington state law exempts family home child care providers from publicly sharing personal information because “their business operates within their private residence,” according to the bill. It argues that “child care providers working in licensed centers and other nonresidential care settings also face safety risks, harassment, doxxing and targeted retaliation when their home addresses, personal phone numbers, photographs and other identifying information are released publicly.”
The bill was introduced days before independent journalist Nick Shirley released a viral video Friday exposing a Minnesota Somali daycare called the “Quality Learing Center” for allegedly having no children in attendance and claimed they took $1.9 million in taxpayer aid.
Washington Attorney General Nick Brown told The Seattle Times on Tuesday that right-wing influencers were investigating child care centers they said had ties to the Somali community in the state. He added that community members had reached out.
“Showing up on someone’s porch, threatening or harassing them isn’t an investigation,” Brown told the Times. “Neither is filming minors who may be in the home. This is unsafe and potentially dangerous behavior.”
🚨 Here is the full 42 minutes of my crew and I exposing Minnesota fraud, this might be my most important work yet. We uncovered over $110,000,000 in ONE day. Like it and share it around like wildfire! Its time to hold these corrupt politicians and fraudsters accountable
We ALL… pic.twitter.com/E3Penx2o7a
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) December 26, 2025
SB 5926 also says its goal is to ensure that child care providers can be “protected from harm, intimidation and threats to their personal safety.”
The bill would make “any individual or entity” certified to provide such care exempt from the disclosure of names, home addresses, personal phone numbers, personal email addresses, birth dates, driver’s license information and “other personally identifying information.”
The bill would not affect parents’ access to the licensing and complaint history of daycare staff members, though it would limit the research parents can conduct into members’ personal lives. The bill would also curtail efforts by private investigators to vet day care workers through information found in public records, but it would not stop government investigations into alleged fraud or abuse.
Chair of the Washington State Republican Party Jim Walsh welcomed the federal accountability, according to KOMO News. “So, we need to investigate this. We need to see exactly what’s happening with the taxpayer dollars that are being funneled through the state government to these daycare centers and make sure that they’re being spent on daycare, on child care, on kids,” he said.
Walsh added that officials need to be careful because it is not yet known whether fraud has taken place, saying “[i]t may be that some or a lot of this money is being spent properly.”
We have frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota.
You have probably read the serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade.
Today we have taken three actions… pic.twitter.com/VYbyf3WGop
— Deputy Secretary Jim O’Neill (@HHS_Jim) December 30, 2025
Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill froze a child care payments to Minnesota on Tuesday to over fraud allegations. He referred to “serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade.” He said officials identified individuals featured in Shirley’s work and called for Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to launch an audit.
O’Neill also announced that all Association for Children and Family payments in the U.S. can only be awarded to daycares that provide “a justification and a receipt or photo evidence,” adding that he has “turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud.”
O’Neill also called on parents, providers and others to report concerns to a new dedicated fraud-reporting hotline and email address.
Alleged Somali fraud in Minnesota has dominated recent headlines. A pandemic relief-related health care scheme in Minnesota resulted in an estimated $9 billion in fraud, authorities said. The majority of the more than 90 people charged with fraud were Somali, according to KOMO News. Federal authorities labeled it the largest fraud scheme targeting pandemic relief the U.S. has seen.
State Sen. Lisa Wellman had not responded to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.
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