Expand / Collapse search
☰

Finalizing fraud prevention: Results from committee prompted by Feeding Our Future

By
Published  May 6, 2025 5:45pm CDT
Politics
FOX 9
New fraud committee has mixed opinions

New fraud committee has mixed opinions

The new House fraud prevention committee has wrapped up its work for the year, with only one bill making it to law. But how effective the committee was depends on who you ask among Minnesota lawmakers.

The Brief

    • The House fraud prevention committee wrapped up its 2025 session this week. It produced only one bill that seems likely to pass this year, but Republicans credit it with a culture shift.
    • Democrats say they already passed a lot of fraud prevention into law during the trifecta, including a pre-award risk assessment for grant recipients.
    • Creating a statewide Office of Inspector General was a bipartisan priority, but whether it lands under executive or legislative control is still to be determined.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - The new House fraud prevention committee has wrapped up its work for the year.

How useful it was depends on whom you ask.

Prevention production

2025 goals and bills:

It sounds like only one bill originating in the Republican-led committee will make it into law this year, but quite a few bills attempt to address fraud and the GOP says that’s because their work helped change the culture.

In the wake of Feeding Our Future and investigations into autism center scams, the GOP started 2025 with a goal that fit into the palm of Rep. Jim Nash.\

"This is the very simple note," said Rep. Nash, (R-Waconia) as he held up his hand. "It's right here. It says 'fraud equals bad.'"

Protecting taxpayers

'More than skin deep':

The House fraud prevention committee is the only one with a Republican majority, but Democrats who served with them say the work is more than skin deep.

"It's easy to say 'fraud is bad', said Rep. Emma Greenman, (DFL-Minneapolis). "That's a bumper sticker. I think actually protecting people and the services that they rely on, protecting taxpayers requires a stack of bills that we have been working through."

What's changing?

Audit report cards:

Nash didn’t serve on the fraud committee, but he got bipartisan support for his anti-fraud bill requiring report cards from the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) detailing audit performances by anybody up for a new grant.

"There will be four (new) full-time (auditors) once that bill gets signed into law," Rep. Nash said.

Answering to auditors

Direct complaint:

The entire fraud committee also signed a letter emphasizing a complaint the OLA has had since at least 2007 — direct grants from legislators to nonprofits.

Those often get less oversight, and Republicans said they'll address the issue in 2026.

"We will have some sort of a policy bill where any legislative earmarks have to go through a process that includes risk assessment, that includes analyzing 990 and capacity," said Rep. Kristin Robbins, (R-Maple Grove), who chaired the committee.

Democrats say they also want to minimize those direct grants and want them to be better scrutinized — so much so, they already created a pre-award risk assessment during their trifecta.
"That is required right now," said Rep. Dave Pinto, (DFL-St. Paul).

Inspector's office

Who's in control?:

One more GOP priority has been to create a statewide Office of Inspector General under legislative control.

That seems likely to happen, but possibly within the executive branch instead of the legislative branch because that’s the only way the office can have police powers.

What's next:

Republicans plan to keep the fraud committee until around next year, and they say they already have 530 fraud hotline reports to go through before the next session.

PoliticsMinnesota