House Democrats Continue to Stop Anti-Fraud Legislation from Moving Forward

ST. PAUL – For the third time in less than a week, bipartisan legislation that would begin to address Minnesota’s fraud epidemic has been stopped by Minnesota House Democrats.

State Representative Marj Fogelman (R-Fulda) said she is frustrated by their continued stonewalling.

“This state has lost at least $9 billion to fraud, and we can’t move an enforcement bill forward because one caucus is playing politics with needed legislation,” Fogelman said. “With 67 Republicans and 67 Democrats in the House, we only need one Democrat to put people before politics. So far, we can’t find one.”

The legislation Fogelman references would create an independent Office of Inspector General (OIG). In order to help stop fraud in Minnesota, the legislation would establish the OIG and give it real investigative powers and enforcement authority. Most importantly, it would not be controlled by the Governor’s Office.

Last session, this bill, carried by a Senate Democrat, was approved in the Senate on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. But with a tie in the Minnesota House, House Democrats refused to allow a vote to be taken on it.

On February 19 and 25, an attempt was made to bring up the bill on the House floor. Every House Democrat voted against it. An attempt to move similar legislation out of the Minnesota House State Government Finance Committee also failed recently.

Fogelman said House Democrats want to remove the “independent” portion of the OIG bill and allow the administration to have some say in it, a move House and Senate Republicans, as well as Senate Democrats, oppose.

“Governor Walz has done nothing but downplay the fraud epidemic in Minnesota, as he literally told a reporter ‘this fraud thing happens in every state’ recently,” Fogelman said. “We have already seen one state agency try to cover its tracks by creating new documents and backdating others to hinder an investigation. With at least $9 billion already gone, we need to take action on fraud and stop worrying about Governor Walz’s feelings. Establishing an independent agency to investigate and act on fraud would be a good first step.”