The Minnesota House passed a bill on May 8 to create an Office of the Inspector General aimed at addressing fraud in state government. The move comes as the legislative session nears its May 17 adjournment deadline.
Supporters say the new office is intended to provide more transparency and accountability, following estimates that fraud has cost state taxpayers $9 billion or more. The bill proposes that the Office of Inspector General operate independently within the executive branch, with future law enforcement authority and powers such as issuing subpoenas and freezing funds under court order.
“For the OIG to work, it must be independent and have real law enforcement authority, something existing agencies don’t have. It cannot be under the thumb of the governor’s office. It needs to be free from politics and able to hold people accountable. State employees should know there are consequences for allowing fraud to happen, whether by negligence or intent,” said Chris Swedzinski. He added: “I thank all the workers at the state, local, county levels who have stepped forward and spoke truth into deaf ears for a long, long time. The days of sweeping Minnesota’s massive fraud problem under the rug are coming to an end. This new Office of the Inspector General will be able to take real action to hold people accountable and let us begin to get a grip on the fraud that’s ripped through our state. More work needs to be done, but this is an important step forward.” The bill now moves on for Senate approval before it can go into effect.
In other legislative activity this week, Swedzinski reported that “the Senate this week passed an anti-Second Amendment bill (S.F. 4067) on a 34-33 vote with all Democrats in support and all Republicans against.” He described provisions including bans on certain firearms based on features or magazine capacity limits over 17 rounds; registration requirements; felony penalties for non-compliance; and retroactive trigger device bans.
Swedzinski also discussed upcoming consideration of a Climate Superfund bill (HF3945), which he characterized as likely increasing costs for households by $7,000 per year due to expanded liability for energy producers—a measure he opposes along with other proposals he called radical.
Swedzinski was elected in 2023 as a Republican representative from Minnesota’s 15A House District after replacing Sondra Erickson, according to AFSA Online.
