A House bill to create an office to fraud concerns and allegations passed its first committee early Tuesday morning.
The only member to vote against the Inspector General bill was DFL Representative Larry Kraft.
"I think fraud is absolutely we cannot accept any and I'm fully on board with that," Kraft explained. "I've had an issue with this bill from the very beginning. We're putting in place a very large new bureaucracy. We don't know how much it's going to cost. My sense is we would have better results by spending the money in different ways."
However, others in the DFL showed support for the bill.
"I am committed to continuing to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, including Representative (Paul) Anderson (R), as this bill progresses through the future committee stops to resolve the remaining sticking points required for it to pass the House and deliver on our shared goal of fighting fraud in Minnesota," Democratic state Representative Matt Norris added.
The House bill now goes to the Judiciary Committee. The measure closely mirrors one that passed in the Senate recently.
Lawmakers had been split on key details, like whether the office should have its own law enforcement powers and how leadership is chosen, but there is hope among lawmakers those hurdles can be worked out.
