Only two hearings held bills of interest for Veterans last week in both the House and the Senate.

The House Veterans and Military Affairs Division met last Wednesday morning, April 2 and heard seven bills. All were laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus budget bill.

• HF2773 (Clardy – Inver Grove Heights) Lutheran Social Services CORE program funding provided, reports required, and money appropriated.
• HF3005 (Gottfried – Shoreview) Metro Meals on Wheels funding provided, reports required, and money appropriated.
• HF982 (Clardy – Inver Grove Heights) Education benefit established for dependents of disabled Veterans.
• HF1845 (Cha – Woodbury) Veterans definition expanded to include units operating from Laos and or naturalized under the federal Hmong Veterans' Naturalization Act.
• HF1511 (Clardy – Inver Grove Heights) Commissioner of Veterans affairs funding provided for a Veteran mentorship program for Black youth, and money appropriated.
• HF1514 (Clardy – Inver Grove Heights) Veterans resilience project funding provided, reports required, and money appropriated.
• HF1516 (Clardy – Inver Grove Heights) Commissioner of Veterans Affairs funding provided for a grant to an organization to establish a Black Veterans support program, and money appropriated.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Senate Veterans Subcommittee unveiled its proposal to fund the Minnesota Departments of Veterans Affairs and Military Affairs. On the MDVA side, all of the agency’s recommendations were accepted including operating adjustments for the Programs & Services and Healthcare divisions, policy items related to MAXIS database access for the Homeless Veteran Initiative, aligning federal burial benefit eligibility with the state and working towards the creation of a plaque dedicated to Gold Star and Blue Star Families at the Capitol Mall’s Ring of Honor. The bill was also amended to included accreditation requirements for those providing initial claims services to Minnesota Veterans and their families. The bill was approved by the Subcommittee and sent to the full Agriculture and Veterans committee, where it was approved again and sent to the Senate Finance Committee.