Office of Inspector General Proposed to Oversee All State Agencies Receiving Government Funding

(KNSI) — A DFL lawmaker has put forth a measure to create a statewide Office of the Inspector General to keep an eye on fraud for all state agencies that receive government funding.

Senator Heather Gustafson says she will formally introduce the idea when the next legislature starts on January 14th in an effort to combat abuse and waste.

Some agencies already have an inspector general, but there is no office overseeing all departments. Gustafson says it would provide “a practical solution to ensure accountability, transparency, and fiscal responsibility in state government.”

Republican lawmakers are calling it a publicity stunt because they introduced the same piece of legislation last session, but Democrats failed to pass it.

Nearly $1 billion in fraud has been uncovered in the last couple of years, starting with the $250 million Feeding Our Future scam. This past summer, the Minnesota Department of Human Services opened an investigation into potential Medicaid fraud at more than a dozen autism centers, and the U.S. Department of Labor said more than $434 million was overpaid by the state in pandemic unemployment benefits. A report by the Legislative Auditor also showed significant problems with the Frontline Worker Pay Program, which gave bonus checks to those who worked on the frontlines during the COVID-19 peacetime emergency. Forty-one percent of applicants couldn’t be verified, and ineligible applicants received payments anyway.

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