The 2020 legislative session came to an end on Sunday night with no deals reached on a bonding bill, supplemental budget or more aid to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. All the MDVA initiatives that were mentioned last update didn’t have any legislative action along with the headline grabbing items.

Even though the regular session is over, the House and Senate expect to come back around June 12 for a special session to coincide with a potential continuation of the governor’s peacetime emergency orders.

Both the House and the Senate attempted to pass bonding bills to provide funding for infrastructure repair and development throughout the state. The bills both failed on the floors of the House and the Senate.

The House bill included funding for MDVA infrastructure projects. That funding was $10 million for asset preservation for the five Minnesota Veterans Homes, $4.2 million for security upgrades for the homes in Greater Minnesota and funding to complete the greenhouse at the Minnesota Veterans Home – Fergus Falls. There was also funding for a Veterans memorial in Martin County and a Veterans Memorial Greenway in Dakota County.

The Senate version contained $9 million for asset preservation for the Minnesota Veterans Homes and funding for the Fergus Falls greenhouse. The bill also funded the Martin County Veterans memorial and funding to create the Veterans State Trail near Camp Ripley.

If a bonding bill passes during the special session, it will likely contain a mixture of the MDVA and Veterans initiatives that each bill had.

Finally, one piece of legislation that was passed by the legislature was a bill providing outdoor heritage funds. Within HF2682, carried by Rep. Leon Lillie and Sen. Carrie Ruud, a section of the bill reauthorizes funding for the Medal of Honor memorial that will be built outside of the Veterans Service Building in St. Paul.