RALEIGH, (AP) — The North Carolina House is forming a task force to see what it can do to discourage people from attempting to bilk the state unemployment insurance system of benefits.

House Speaker Thom Tillis announced Tuesday the creation of the panel that's being asked to offer recommendations to the full General Assembly before it reconvenes for the budget-adjusting session in mid-May.

The group will examine whether unemployment fraud penalties are similar to those for other acts of fraud and how to make workforce training and job placement a key mission of the recently revamped state Division of Unemployment Security.

Lawmakers already are looking for a way to pay back $2.6 billion the state owes the federal government for paying unemployment benefits when state unemployment insurance funds ran out.