After dealing with cancellations last week, the legislature got back on track in terms of scheduling. Both Veterans and Military Affairs committees held meetings. The House and Senate also agreed on committee deadlines.

There were two Veterans related bills heard in the House Veterans and Military Affairs committee. The first was HF 119, which is authored by Rep. Mike Sundin. This bill would provide money for the Helmets to Hard Hats program that assists Veterans with getting jobs in the trades industry. It was approved by the committee and will next be heard in the Jobs and Economic Development committee. The next bill was Rep. Bob Gunther’s HF 120 which would provide a tax credit to employers that hire disabled or unemployed Veterans. The bill was approved and re-referred to the House Tax committee. On Tuesday, Feb. 12 the committee will hear overviews from the American Legion and the Disabled American Veterans as well as two bills, HFs 530 and 586.

The Senate Veterans and Military Affairs committee started with a presentation from Neal Loidolt of MAC-V. Following the presentation, the committee heard SF 54 authored by Sen. Justin Eichorn, This is a resolution that would encourage the federal government (including Congress, the president and US Department of Veterans Affairs) to fund the construction costs for the proposed Veterans homes in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston. On Thursday, Feb. 14 the committee will hear four bills, SFs 242, 300, 503 and 686. For more information on these bills and the scheduled House bills, click over to the /mdva/news/legislative-updates/state-bill-tracker/index.jspstate bill tracker.

Legislative Deadlines

The legislature announced its committee deadlines for this session. These deadlines are meant to filter out and give priority to bills that have been introduced. If a bill doesn't meet deadline, it is essentially dead. The first deadline is Friday, March 15. This deadline is for committees to act favorably on bills in the house of origin. The second deadline is March 29. This is for committees to act favorably on bills, or companion bills that met the first deadline in the other chamber. The third deadline is on Friday, Apr. 12. This is for committees to act favorably on major appropriation and finance bills.