Rep. Torkelson: Slow Progress in the House on Anti-Fraud Measures

ST. PAUL – Despite Minnesota seeing $9 billion in fraud, progress in the Minnesota House that would address this taxpayer theft has been far too slow according to State Representative Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska).

“There are always many topics discussed where people wonder if legislative action can make a difference,” Torkelson said. “In Minnesota, the legislature can make a significant difference on fraud activity in the future, but it must be willing to act. To date, one side is very eager to address this problem, the other side is not.”

Torkelson references a plan that would create an independent Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that would investigate fraud in our state. 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.

This year, Torkelson said the bill has been bogged down in the House State Government Finance Committee. Now, with half the session nearly over, Democrats on the committee finally agreed to approve it and allow it to continue moving through the committee process.

Another fraud problem was debated on the House floor recently, and Torkelson noted House Democrats blocked a bill that would have ensured Minnesota stopped funding nonprofits that have been found to have committed fraudulent activity.

This legislation directly references a case where a nonprofit illegally obtained $1.1 million in taxpayer dollars and the Department of Education ordered it to pay the money back. Legislative Democrats then wrote and passed legislation into law allocating $1.1 million to that very same organization. After the bill passed, the organization’s CEO and executive director made campaign contributions to the Democrats who authored the funding legislation.

Torkelson said all House Republicans voted in favor of the bill, and every House Democrat voted against it.

“The party opposite claims to recognize the fraud epidemic in this state, but their actions are not matching their rhetoric,” Torkelson concluded.