As the second month of the legislative session draws to a close, Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) released a new budget forecast on Friday, Feb. 26. The House and the Senate continued working through bills including a handful of Veterans bills.

Within the new budget forecast, MMB is projecting a budget surplus of $1.6 billion for fiscal years 2022-23. This comes a few months after the last budget forecast showed a $1.3 billion deficit for those same years. This will affect the budget negotiations later in session between the leaders of the House and Senate, along with Governor Walz.

On Monday, the House Ways and Means committee approved HF88, the bill authorizing adult daycare services at Veterans homes. It now awaits a vote by the entire House of Representatives.

The House Labor, Industry, Veterans and Military Affairs committee heard two Veterans related bills. HF792 is authored by Majority Leader Ryan Winkler of Golden Valley. This bill would provide funding to the Veterans Resilience Project which offers eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy to Veterans and current military members suffering from PTSD and other service-related trauma. The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in a budget bill.

The other bill heard was HF300 which would create a pilot program to provide a U.S. and Minnesota Flag that were flown over the State Capitol to families of fallen military and public safety personnel who pass away while in service. Rep. John Huot of Rosemount is the bill author. The bill was approved by the committee and sent to the House floor.

On Thursday, the Senate Veterans and Military Affairs committee heard three bills. Two of those bills were authored by Sen. Justin Eichorn of Grand Rapids. SF249 would provide funding to Veterans retreat programming at Camp Bliss in Walker. The bill was approved and sent to the Finance committee. His other bill was SF669, a resolution urging the federal government to provide funding to the three proposed Veterans homes in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston that the state has already provided construction funds. The bill was approved and re-referred to the Rules committee.

The third bill was authored by Sen. Chuck Wiger of Maplewood. It is also a resolution and it urges the federal government to bring home every American Prisoner of War and Missing in Action (POW/MIA). The committee approved the bill and it was also sent to the rules committee.

Finally, the House Judiciary and Civil Law committee met on Friday morning and heard HF478, the Veterans Restorative Justice Act. Authored by Rep. Sandra Feist of New Brighton. The committee passed the bill and sent it to the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform committee.

Next Wednesday, the House Labor, Industry, Veterans and Military Affairs committee will hear HF641 authored by Rep. Donald Raleigh of Circle Pines. This bill would provide a tax credit to employers who hire out of work Veterans or disabled Veterans.

The Senate Veterans and Military Affairs committee is expected to meet next Thursday morning and hear a presentation about governor’s budget recommendations for MDVA.