Fraud Savers

California wants to save its fraud:

Smallwood-Cuevas just introduced SB560, also known as the Legalized Welfare Fraud Bill, or at least it should be. According to L.A.-based Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin, SB560 "would decriminalize welfare fraud below an amount of $25,000." What's stealing a measly $24,999 among friends? Honestly, it could happen to anyone, and, if SB560 becomes law, it probably will. If I'm being completely honest, almost anyone could have come up with legalizing five-figure welfare fraud. But Smallwood-Cuevas is a particularly hardworking and creative Democrat, so she didn't end things there. Under SB560, prosecutions for attempted welfare fraud would be prohibited, and it would also become illegal to prosecute someone for perjury if they accidentally got charged for welfare fraud and then lied to prosecutors about it. "Sorry you didn't get away with your welfare fraud this time, Bucko, but that was a real nice story you made up and better luck next time," isn't how DAs approach these things in the rest of the country, but this is California we're talking about. SB560 essentially provides one of those personal force fields from "Dune" to protect welfare cheats from pretty much anything except for slow-moving knives and laser blasts. Not that I'm advocating stabbing or laser-blasting welfare cheats. Or at least not yet.

Fraud shields up...