HF 2786

as introduced - 93rd Legislature (2023 - 2024) Posted on 03/09/2023 12:50pm

A bill for an act
relating to state government; rewarding state employees for reporting fraud in the
use of state or federal money; amending Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 16A.90.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 16A.90, is amended to read:

16A.90 EMPLOYEE GAINSHARING SYSTEM.

Subdivision 1.

Commissioner must establish program.

(a) The commissioner shall
establish a program to provide onetime bonus compensation to state employees for efforts
made to reduce the costs of operating state government deleted text begin or deleted text end new text begin , new text end for ways of providing better or
more efficient state services new text begin , and for reporting to the commissioner and to the legislative
auditor fraud in the use of state funds or federal funds administered by the state new text end . The
commissioner may authorize an executive branch appointing authority to make a onetime
award to an employee or group of employees whose suggestion deleted text begin or deleted text end new text begin , new text end involvement in a project new text begin ,
or report of fraud new text end is determined by the commissioner to have resulted in documented
cost-savings to the state. Before authorizing awards under this section, the commissioner
shall establish guidelines for the program including but not limited to:

(1) the maximum award is ten percent of the documented savings in the first fiscal year
in which the savings are realized up to $50,000;

(2) the award must be paid from the appropriation to which the savings accrued; and

(3) employees whose primary job responsibility is to identify cost savings or ways of
providing better or more efficient state services are generally not eligible for bonus
compensation under this section except in extraordinary circumstances as defined by the
commissioner.

(b) The program required by this section must be in addition to any existing monetary
or nonmonetary performance-based recognition programs for state employees, including
achievement awards, continuous improvement awards, and general employee recognitions.

Subd. 2.

Biannual legislative report.

No later than August 1, 2017, and biannually
thereafter, the commissioner must report to the chairs and ranking minority members of the
house of representatives and senate committees with jurisdiction over Minnesota Management
and Budget on the status of the program required by this section. The report must detail:

(1) the specific program guidelines established by the commissioner as required by
subdivision 1, if the guidelines have not been described in a previous report;

(2) any proposed modifications to the established guidelines under consideration by the
commissioner, including the reason for the proposed modifications;

(3) the methods used by the commissioner to promote the program to state employees,
if the methods have not been described in a previous report;

(4) a summary of the results of the program that includes the following, categorized by
agency:

(i) the number of state employees whose suggestions deleted text begin or deleted text end new text begin , new text end involvement in a project new text begin , or
reports of fraud new text end were considered for possible bonus compensation, and a description of each
suggestion or project that was considered;

(ii) the total amount of bonus compensation actually awarded, itemized by each suggestion
or project that resulted in an award and the amount awarded for that suggestion or project;
and

(iii) the total amount of documented cost-savings that accrued to the agency as a result
of each suggestion or project for which bonus compensation was granted; and

(5) any recommendations for legislation that, in the judgment of the commissioner,
would improve the effectiveness of the bonus compensation program established by this
section or which would otherwise increase opportunities for state employees to actively
participate in the development and implementation of strategies for reducing the costs of
operating state government or for providing better or more efficient state services.