There was a significant amount of movement on the floors of the House of Representatives and Senate last week as the legislature looks to wrap up Veterans-related bills ahead of the May 18 adjournment date.

To start the week, the House took up five Veterans bills on Monday, May 4. They were all passed unanimously and sent to the Senate.

The bills heard were as follows:

• HF 3522 (Duran) Allows MDVA to temporarily close Veterans Homes in the unlikely event that a facility receives an involuntary termination notice from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) or other federal reviewers.
• HF 3532 (Olson) Modifies eligibility in State Veterans Cemeteries to allow National Guard members, their spouses and dependent children to be buried.
• HF 3584 (Bliss) Creates standards for legislatively directed competitive and direct grants issued by MDVA.
• HF 3919 (Cha) Enacts the recommendations made by the Veterans of the Special Guerrilla Units and Irregular Forces in Laos Task Force.
• HF 4492 (Bliss) Establishes the Minnesota Commanders’ Task Force into state statute.

Rep. Bjorn Olson presented the bills authored by Rep. Matt Bliss who was participating remotely that day.

On Thursday, the Senate took up the companion to HF 3522. The Senators then voted to add the language from the bills listed and additional language for the Department of Military Affairs as an amendment into HF 3522 to create a Veterans and Military Affairs omnibus bill. The full bill then passed 67-0. The House must agree to this language before session ends.