The legislature completed its session for 2026 on Monday, May 18.

As laid out in the last update, the Senate combined language from five Veterans bills into HF 3522, making it the Veterans and Military Affairs Omnibus bill for 2026. This marks the fifth consecutive year with a Veterans omnibus bill, starting in 2022.

The omnibus bill has five Veterans components:

• 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.
• Modifies eligibility in State Veterans Cemeteries to allow National Guard members, their spouses and dependent children to be buried beginning on January 1, 2027.
• Creates standards for legislatively directed competitive and direct grants issued by MDVA.
• Enacts the recommendations made by the Veterans of the Special Guerrilla Units and Irregular Forces in Laos Task Force.
• Establishes the Minnesota Commanders’ Task Force into state statute.

The House passed the bill as amended by the Senate on Tuesday, May 12. The vote was 134-0. Governor Walz then signed the bill into law on Thursday, May 14.

In the closing hours of session on Sunday, May 17, the legislature agreed to a bonding bill that included funds for MDVA infrastructure projects throughout the state. The bill, HF 719 contained $15 million for asset preservation to fix, upgrade and renovate critical needs at State Veterans Homes and State Veterans Cemeteries. The legislature also authorized MDVA to use previously passed funding for critical renovations of the Domiciliary facilities in Hastings and Minneapolis. The governor is expected to sign the bonding bill later this week.

One other Veterans provision that was passed into law was the language from Senator Jordan Rasmusson’s SF 3603 and Rep. Bjorn Olson’s HF 3685, establishing statewide criterion to provide high school diplomas to Veterans from the Korean War and Vietnam War eras if they enlisted prior to completing their education.

Unless there is a need for a special session, the legislature won’t return until January 2027. All 201 seats in the House and the Senate are on the ballot this November.