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The Legislative Department provides frequent updates regarding the status of current Veteran related legislation.
2024 Veterans Legislation Session Summary
News updates and press releases from Minnesota Congressional Members, in addition to contact information can be found in our Congressional Corner.
3/29/2019 3:56:41 PM
Despite the second committee deadline taking place on Friday, March 29, the legislature was fairly quiet in terms of Veterans related policy. That should change next week because budget bills have started to roll out and will be heard in committees.
On Tuesday, the House Veterans and Military Affairs committee held its regularly scheduled meeting. It received an introduction to Major General John Jensen, heard a presentation from the United Veterans Legislative Council along with two bills. The first bill was HF 143, authored by Rep. Rob Ecklund. It would appropriate money for the Armed Forces Service Center at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport so that the center can replace furniture and beds for users of the facility. The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in the finance bill. The second bill was a resolution from Rep. John Persell. It urges the federal government to fund the construction costs for the three new Veterans homes in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston. It was approved and sent to the House floor.
The Senate Veterans and Military Affairs committee did not meet at its regularly scheduled time on Thursday morning.
The House Property Tax Division unveiled what they call a division report, which will eventually become a part of the House Tax bill. This included a few changes to the Homestead Market Exclusion for disabled Veterans. The first is changing the application due date from July 1 to Dec. 15. The second change gives county Veterans service officers and county assessors permission to share data in order to administrate the exclusion. Finally, it makes a change to allow Veterans to apply for a refund of taxes paid in 2017 and 2018 if the Veteran met the disability rating requirements in assessment years 2016 and 2017, but did not receive the exclusion in the following taxes payable year. The Property Tax Division will take up this bill next week before sending it to the full tax committee.
The House Veterans and Military Affairs committee will meet at its scheduled time on Tuesday, April 2. It will give a hearing to the Veterans and Military Affairs omnibus bill.
After a week off, the Senate Veterans and Military Affairs committee will likely meet on Thursday, April 4.
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Appropriations and Programming
Minnesota House
Minnesota Senate
