Fraud has been in the forefront of Minnesota news for far too long. It has occurred in numerous areas: health and human services programs, education programs, housing programs – the list is seemingly endless. In fact, things have gotten so bad, the acting Attorney for Minnesota, Joe Thompson, says fraud in our state could surpass $1 billion and has said some state programs have been overtaken by fraud. Minnesotans have been loud and clear: they expect state leaders to take bold bipartisan action to address this issue. They want us to get our arms around fraud and put mechanisms in place to ensure no more taxpayer money is stolen. In answer to these repeated calls for action, I lead a bipartisan effort to spearhead this issue.
The result was a bill I authored alongside Sen. Heather Gustafson, which would create an independent statewide Office of the Inspector General (OIG). For the entirety of the 2025 legislative session, we worked tirelessly working with colleagues and stakeholders, co-presenting this bill at nearly every committee stop and presenting it together on the Senate floor. We both recognized that to get a monumental bill like this done, it would take bipartisan work and an all-hands-on-deck approach. A new statewide OIG office would protect public money in Minnesota from bad actors seeking to defraud state agencies, programs, and taxpayers.
Our role as legislators is to protect taxpayer dollars, utilize state funding responsibly, and prevent waste, fraud, and abuse from occurring. Our bill took a step towards restoring the trust of Minnesotans in their state government. Families deserve to know we are taking fraud seriously, and we are doing our part to mitigate future instances of waste, fraud, and abuse.
Our efforts were rewarded in the Senate, where the bill passed with incredible bipartisan support, 60-7. That passage meant we were one step closer towards ensuring accountability, transparency, and fiscal responsibility in our state’s government. Unfortunately, the bill stalled in the House of Representatives where attempts to bring the bill to the House floor were denied.
Even though the bill didn’t quite make it across the finish line, our work and discussions did have an impact. In September, the Governor signed an executive order to create an OIG Coordinated Council. This order didn’t go as far as we had envisioned, but it was a good, albeit small, step toward taking fraud more seriously. The Council will meet monthly and be housed in the executive branch, will include members representing multiple state agencies and councils: Superintendent of the BCA, representatives from offices of each agency’s inspector general’s office, representatives of the Financial Crimes and Fraud Section of the BCA, the Internal Controls and Accountability Unit at Minnesota Management and Budget, the Grants Management team at the Minnesota Department of Administration, and other agency representatives.
Despite this small step, we must do more. Periodic meetings between several different agencies might be better than the status quo but given the sheer magnitude of the fraud we are facing in Minnesota, we need a fully independent statewide OIG written into law that will work daily to prevent fraud.
While our bipartisan bill did not make it across the finish line in 2025, it represented a turning point in the discussion of how to address and prevent fraud. I am proud of the serious bipartisan work we did and am optimistic we will pass our OIG bill in 2026. I’m also hopeful it’s an indicator of increased bipartisanship on other issues during the upcoming legislative session.