Senator Aric Putnam Named to Commission Recruiting Minnesota’s First Inspector General

(KNSI) — St. Cloud Senator Aric Putnam has been appointed to the panel tasked with recommending candidates to lead Minnesota’s new independent watchdog agency.

The Legislative Inspector General Advisory Commission has eight members split evenly among the four legislative caucuses. It will recruit and recommend candidates for the state’s first Inspector General, who will head the Independent Office of Inspector General, an agency created to investigate fraud within and against state programs.

Putnam was a co-author of the bipartisan bill that established the office. In a statement, he says getting the office running correctly matters as much as passing it, and that the commission’s task now is finding a leader with the experience and integrity to use the office’s authority well.

Senate File 856 passed the Senate 60-7 in May 2025 and cleared the House 127-5 in May 2026 before the Governor signed it into law. The office consolidates state fraud-oversight functions into a single independent agency with its own investigative authority, including subpoena power and the ability to freeze funds. More than a dozen other states have a statewide Inspector General.

The commission has until January 1st, 2027, to send a list of candidates to the Governor, who must appoint the state’s first Inspector General by February 1st, 2027. The appointment is subject to confirmation by three-fifths of the Senate.

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