Area state legislators said they aren’t optimistic about the chances of passing reforms to Minnesota’s paid medical and family leave laws this session.

“I still think we need to make some common-sense changes to this bill,” Sen. Gary Dahms, R-Redwood Falls, said Wednesday. However, Dahms said there has not been interest at the Legislature to make those changes.

Paid leave was one of the topics Rep. Chris Swedzinski, R-Ghent, and Dahms discussed in a mid-session legislative update on Wednesday. In a Zoom call with area residents and in interviews with the Independent, Dahms and Swedzinski also spoke about prospects for passing a bonding bill, and ongoing efforts to fight fraud in the state.

Dahms and Swedzinski said there needed to be changes made to the state’s new paid medical and family leave program.

“We’ve been looking at a lot of options,” Swedzinski said.

“We need to tighten the description of what family is,” Dahms said. Both Dahms and Swedzinski said there also needed to be some exemptions to the law for small businesses. However, they said there wasn’t currently support in the Legislature to pass those changes.

Swedzinski and Dahms were more positive about the chances for a bonding bill to be passed this session.

“There seems to be an appetite for it,” Swedzinski said.

“I think we’ll have a bonding bill,” Dahms said. It’s yet to be determined how much that bill will be, Dahms said, but he thought it could be around $750 million to $1 billion. Swedzinski thought a bonding bill might be in the $600 million to $800 million range.

Both Dahms and Swedzinski said there have been a lot of public infrastructure projects, like roads, water treatment and sewer projects, that have requested bonding dollars this session. There are also a lot of bonding requests for needed maintenance work at facilities like state colleges and universities.

Dahms and Swedzinski said state legislators are continuing to try to establish a state Office of Inspector General to help prevent fraud in state programs.

“What we have to do is create an independent agency to do the work of investigations,” Swedzinski said.

He said it would also be important for a state OIG to have enforcement power, or even the ability prosecute fraud. He said a House bill establishing an OIG would “create that independent voice.”

“We need to get a set of eyes that’s not tied in politically,” Dahms said Wednesday.

He agreed that having enforcement power would be another important aspect of an OIG. Dahms said Minnesota’s Office of the Legislative Auditor has been doing a good job, but lacked enforcement power.

In late March, the Minnesota House State Government Finance and Policy Committee advanced a bill to establish an independent state Office of Inspector General. After advancing from committee, the bill went to the House Judiciary Committee for further consideration.

Dahms said the Senate is also continuing to work on an OIG bill.

“I think we’ll see a similar bill,” and hopefully get it passed in the Senate, Dahms said. The Senate advanced a bill out of committee last year, he said.

Dahms and Swedzinski said they plan to do a series of session wrap-up talks in the area later this spring.