Minnesota House passes bill to modernize county human‑services technology

Representative Torkelson explained Senate File 3.34 on the House floor as a multi‑year effort to replace and modernize county technology used to administer human‑services programs such as Medicaid and SNAP. He said "the technology that the counties are forced to use by the state of Minnesota dates back to the late 1980's, early 1990's" and described work on an "integration layer" to put a modern interface on legacy systems while longer-term upgrades proceed.

The bill creates a dedicated funding mechanism and governance structure to guide the work, Torkelson said, including an interagency group with county representation and a legislative working group for oversight. He estimated the modernization effort will "span 90 million dollars or so," said there will be a "$50 million dollar cap on the fund," and noted the measure includes funding to support the Office of the Inspector General's technology needs.

Several House members spoke in support. Representative Repinski, citing recent incidents in his county, said, "We were hacked twice" and thanked the National Guard cyber team for assistance in restoring Winona County's IT infrastructure. Representative Johnson W and Representative Jake Up (a former county commissioner) praised the bill as a practical step to help counties retain employees and save money by reducing time spent on outdated systems. Representative Driskell and others said modernization should help detect and prevent fraud.

Representative Klevorn outlined a one‑time $15 million provision to improve security and identity‑verification tools for the Office of the Inspector General and urged careful, case‑by‑case integration of identity services. Representative Torkelson added that counties would have access to a separate $10 million pool of grants for local projects.

The clerk took the roll and announced the result: "There being 134 ayes and 0 nays. The bill is passed and the title is agreed to." The bill will move forward following the House's passage.

The House record shows broad, bipartisan floor support centered on improving county service delivery, reducing staff burdens tied to legacy software, strengthening fraud prevention and addressing recent cybersecurity incidents at the county level. The measure includes governance and funding details to oversee implementation, including county representation and legislative oversight as described on the floor.