Republicans are in control of the Minnesota House of Representatives for the first time since January of 2019. Taking control of the chamber earlier this week, Republicans have elected a speaker of the House and begun running committee meetings.
However, House Democrats are alleging that the GOP lacks the necessary votes to conduct legislative business and therefore the Republicans do not legitimately control the chamber. Conversely, the GOP says the state constitution gives them authority to control the House. At present, the DFL is suing the House GOP over this matter.
Despite the lawsuit, the House GOP is pressing forward with the business of the legislative session.
On Thursday, House Republicans introduced the first 10 bills of the 94th legislative session. Typically, the majority party in legislative chambers reserves the first few bills for their major priorities and statement initiatives.
In 2023, Democrats in control of the House reserved the first 10 bills of that session to advance driver’s license for illegal aliens, free school lunches, and unrestricted abortion; all of which were passed into law.
This year’s first 10 bills from the GOP (HF 1-10) cover a broad range of issues, but the first three bills in that list all focus on stopping fraud in state government.
HF 1 would establish the Office of the Inspector General. The inspector general would be appointed for a six-year term by a bipartisan commission made of six Democrats and six Republicans. The inspector general would embed assistant inspectors general in several state agencies, establish means for state employees to report suspected fraud, investigate fraud, and take action to stop fraud.
HF 2 requires employees of state agencies to notify law enforcement and the state legislature if they have any reason to suspect fraud in a state government program.
HF 3 would require commissioners of state agencies to annually update the Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) about their actions to implement recommendations from the OLA. Additionally, the bill would require the OLA to submit annual reports to legislative committees about agency progress in implementing those recommendations.
These three pieces of legislation are no doubt an effort to stop the rampant fraud that has occurred in Minnesota in recent years. In addition to combating fraud, the newly-introduced list of GOP legislation will address a variety of other topics:
- HF 4 proposes an amendment to the Minnesota Constitution which would return state budget surplus funds to taxpayers.
- HF 5 would prevent Social Security benefits from being considered taxable income under Minnesota state law.
- HF 7 increases penalties for certain crimes, establishes new crimes under state law, and mandates greater public disclosure regarding decisions to dismiss criminal charges.
- HF 10 would make illegal aliens ineligible to receive services or payments that are funded by state tax revenue.
The remaining bills authored by the House GOP can be found here; they cover subjects relating to education, energy, and the environment.
Luke Sprinkel
Luke Sprinkel previously worked as a Legislative Assistant at the Minnesota House of Representatives. He grew up as a Missionary Kid (MK) living in England, Thailand, Tanzania, and the Middle East. Luke graduated from Regent University in 2018.
