The Minnesota Legislature returned to work on April 6 after taking time off to observe Easter and Passover. They did not take up any Veterans related bills until the following Monday, April 12.

The House Ways and Means committee met on Monday to take up HF 752 authored by Rep. Rob Ecklund of International Falls. This is the Veterans and Military Affairs budget bill that was approved by his committee before the legislative break. Ways and Means merged his bill into HF 1952 (Rep. Mike Nelson – Brooklyn Park), the State Government Finance and Elections bill. The committee approved the bill and sent it to the floor.

On Monday, the House Capital Investment Committee unveiled its proposal for a bonding bill to fund infrastructure projects throughout the state. The bill, HF 337 (Rep. Fue Lee – Minneapolis) includes funding for the future state Veterans cemetery in Redwood County as well as funds for asset preservation to improve MDVA facilities throughout the state. On Friday, the committee approved the bill and sent it to Ways and Means.

The Senate Finance committee met on Thursday and heard SF 485 by Sen. Andrew Lang of Olivia. This is the Senate’s version of the Veterans and Military Affairs budget bill. This bill was also merged into the State Government Finance and Elections bill. SF 1831 is authored by Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer of Big Lake. The committee also amended the language from SF 1633 into the bill. The bill was approved with amendments and sent to the Senate floor.

Finally, the full House of Representatives took up HF 1952 on Friday. After many amendments were discussed and the bill was debated for over 11 hours, the final vote was 68-62. The Senate should take up its version next week. Following that vote, a conference committee will be formed to work out the differences between the bills.