Overview
- The House State Government Finance Committee deadlocked 7–7, stalling the Office of Inspector General bill after a series of amendment votes, and a motion to send it to Judiciary also failed 7–7.
- Rep. Matt Norris’s broad replacement amendment was rejected for a second time, but several narrower changes were adopted, which now require the Senate to repass the measure if it advances.
- Key sticking points include whether to create a law‑enforcement unit within the OIG and who appoints the inspector general, with Republicans pressing for independence and enforcement powers and DFL members citing constitutional and prevention priorities.
- House DFL leaders introduced roughly a dozen anti‑fraud bills focused on adding investigators, modernizing IT systems, requiring site visits and electronic visit verification, and strengthening the Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.
- Republicans continued to push the Senate‑backed OIG bill and called for an unredacted Optum audit, as a bipartisan working group kept negotiating and Gov. Tim Walz was expected to outline his own anti‑fraud plan Thursday.