The first committee deadline for bills in the legislature led to a lot of bills being heard around the clock in the House and Senate hearing rooms. For Veterans related initiatives, there were 11 bills heard. The second committee deadline, which will eliminate more bills from moving forward is in two weeks on March 29.

The following bills were heard throughout the legislature from March 11-15:

• HF 172 is authored by Rep. Matt Grossell. It designates the third Friday in September as POW and MIA Recognition Day. The bill was approved by the Government Operations committee and sent to the House floor.
• SF 331 would establish Veterans Preference in hiring for positions at the legislature and in the state court system, those two entities are currently exempt from Veterans Preference laws. The committee approved the bill and re-referred it to State Government Finance and Elections. Sen. Jerry Newton is the bill author.
• HF 586 is the bill authored by Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn that designates the first Saturday of October as Veterans Suicide Awareness Day. This bill was heard on the floor of the House of Representatives and received a unanimous vote in passing 127-0.
• Rep. Jay Xiong’s HF 888 was heard in the House Veterans and Military Affairs committee. It expands the class of citizens who are eligible to have a Veterans’s identifier included on a state-issued ID card. The bill removes the requirement that a former service member have at least 181 consecutive days of active service. The bill was approved by the committee and sent to the Transportation committee.
• HF 998, authored by Rep. Rob Ecklund, continued its hearing in the House Judiciary and Civil Law committee on Monday and again on Thursday. It was passed and re-referred to Ways and Means. This is the bill that establishes sentencing guidelines for Veterans who commit criminal offenses connected to a service-related disorder.
• SF 1322 is authored by Sen. Andrew Lang. It funds the Care Management, Outreach, Referral, and Education (C.O.R.E.) program that is administrated by Lutheran Social Services through a grant from MDVA. The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in a Veterans and Military Affairs finance bill.
• HF 1420 allows disabled Veterans to participate in the state’s medical marijuana program. The bill is authored by Rep. Jack Considine and was passed by the committee. It was re-referred to the Health and Human Services policy committee.
• HFs 1958 and 1959 are both authored by Rep. Ecklund. They are initiatives brought forth by MDVA. The first bill allows the agency to use funds to contract with publicity representatives. The second seeks to clarify the duties of the commissioner to implement the programs of MDVA, Programs and Services, and the Minnesota Veterans Homes. Both bills were laid over for possible inclusion in a Veterans and Military Affairs omnibus bill.
• SF 2079 is authored by Rep. Jerry Newton and is the companion to HF 888 which was mentioned above. The committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion in a Veterans and Military Affairs omnibus bill.
• SF 2147 is authored by Sen. Bruce Anderson. It is the companion bill to HF 1959. The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in a Veterans and Military Affairs omnibus bill.

Next week the House Veterans and Military Affairs committee will meet on Tuesday, March 19 and will hear eight bills. The Senate Veterans and Military Affairs committee will meet on Thursday, March 21.