It was announced today that Governor Walz will be signing an executive order to create an Office of Inspector General (OIG) Coordinated Council. The Council, which 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.

“While I’m glad the Governor finally realizes we need to do more to prevent fraud, today’s executive order is not enough. Periodic meetings between several different agencies are better than the current status quo, but given the sheer magnitude of the fraud we are facing in Minnesota, we need a fully independent statewide Office of Inspector General written into law that will work daily to prevent fraud,” said Senator Michael Kreun (R-Blaine). “Despite the opposition we faced last year by the Governor’s Department of Human Services, I look forward to working in a bipartisan way to pass our full OIG bill next year.”

Earlier this year Kreun authored legislation to create an independent statewide Office of the Inspector General, which would have oversight over all state agencies and all state programs to prevent fraud. The OIG bill would create an investigative law enforcement division within the newly created OIG and would provide independent oversight of agencies, and it would have operated independently from the Governor. Despite passing with broad bipartisan support in the Senate, it was opposed by the Department of Human Services and did not receive a vote in the House of Representatives.