House of Representatives

The Veterans Affairs Division heard seven bills on Monday:

• HF 16 expands the eligibility for past military service. This bill would increase the income level at which the credit begins to phase-out from $30,000 to $50,000, with no credit allowed for incomes of $57,500 or higher. It would also expand eligibility by extending the credit to all disabled veterans who have a compensable service connected disability. Rep. Sheldon Johnson is authoring this bill. It was passed and re-referred to Taxes.
• Rep. Johnson also authored HF 17 which would exempt Veterans who are at least 30 percent disabled from paying the motor vehicle registration tax. The bill also extends the current exemption to any car owned by the disabled Veteran. It was approved and re-referred to Transportation Finance.
• Rep. Johnson's last bill was HF 51. This is a companion to Sen. Greg Clausen's SF 71 that was heard last week in Veterans and Military Affairs. This bill would establish a sliding-scale formula so the amount of the exclusion that a disabled Veteran can take is $300,000 times the Veteran's disability rating percentage. For instance, a Veteran with an 80% service connected disability would receive $240,000. It was passed and re-referred to the tax committee.
• HF 505 is the companion to SF 394 that would appropriate a $700,000 grant to the Veterans Defense Project. The Veterans Defense Project must use the money to support education, outreach and legal assistance for Veterans who are involved with the criminal justice system. Rep. Bob Dettmer is the author. The bill was passed and re-referred to State Government Finance.
• HF 647 is also authored by Rep. Dettmer. It is very similar to HF 127 which would provide money to Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) to share the costs in producing a documentary about Vietnam Era Veterans. The difference in this bill is that it would use money dedicated from Legacy funding. It was passed and re-referred to the Legacy committee.
• HF 667 authored by Rep. Brian Daniels would provide funding for a Veterans memorial in Faribault. It was passed and re-referred to Legacy.
• HF 685 allows 100 percent disabled veterans, and current military members of the active and reserve components and their dependents, to receive free annual passes to the state’s parks. Current law entitles active military members and 100 percent disabled veterans to receive free one-day park permits. Rep. Mark Uglem is the author. The bill was passed and re-referred to the Environment and Natural Resources committee.
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• The Tax Committee heard Rep. Keith Franke's HF 270. This bill would provide a tax credit to employers who hire disabled or unemployed Veterans. The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the tax bill.
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• The Property Tax division heard HFs 119 and 555. These are both authored by Rep. Bob Dettmer. HF 119 would make the Homestead Exclusion permanent for surviving spouses of Veterans. It would also make the application to receive the exclusion available for the surviving spouse for up to two years after the death of a Veteran spouse. HF 555 seeks to give Congressionally chartered Veteran Service Organizations a reduced property tax rate of about 33%. This would lower the tax burden on American Legion and VFW posts, among others around the state. Both bills were laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus property tax bill.

Senate

The Veterans and Military Affairs Committee heard four bills on Thursday:

• SF 620 is authored by Sen. Gary Dahms. It would allow counties to build Veteran memorials in any part of the county. Current law says that memorials must be built in the county seat. The bill was approved and re-referred to the Local Government committee.
• Sen. Karin Housley presented SF 135. This legislation would provide money for facility improvement at the Veterans Rest Camp and Camp Legionville. This bill is a companion to Rep. Dettmer's HF 232. It was approved and re-referred to the Environment and Natural Resources Policy and Legacy Finance committee.
• SF 106 seeks to place a plaque in the Court of Honor on the Capitol grounds to honor all Minnesota Veterans who served both at home and abroad during World War I. The current plaque in the Court of Honor only honors those who served abroad. Sen. Greg Clausen is the author of this bill. The plaque is expected to be paid through private funds. The bill was passed and re-referred to State Government Finance and Elections.
• SF 327 is a bill to protect Veterans from entering into an agreement with a lender that seeks to use Veterans benefits as payment that violates federal law. Essentially, this bill gives the State of Minnesota an enforcement mechanism for a federal law to protect Veterans from getting scammed. Chairman Bruce Anderson is carrying this bill. It was passed and re-referred to the Judiciary and Public Safety committee.

Next week

The House Veterans Affairs Division is scheduled to hear five bills. They include HFs 79, 728, 755, 910 and 1059. /mdva/news/legislative-updates/state-bill-tracker/index.jspSee the state bill tracker to learn about these bills. This committee will meet on Monday, February 13th at 1pm in room 5 of the State Office Building.

The House Tax committee will hear HF 16 which is mentioned above. The committee will hear this bill on Wednesday at 10:15 a.m. in room 200 of the State Office Building.

The Senate Veterans and Military Affairs committee will meet at 8:30 a.m. in room 1100 of the Minnesota Senate Building on Thursday, February 16. The agenda has yet to be released.