Despite the first deadline occurring on Friday, just a handful of Veterans bills were heard in committees this week. All those bills came in the House Veterans and Military Affairs committee on Monday.

Two bills were heard concurrently. HFs 1105 and 1106 authored by Rep. Mike Howard were given informational hearings. They would provide funding to create a Veterans Village in Richfield that would create housing opportunities around American Legion Post 435. The bills await further action in the Capital Investment committee.

HF2373 was the next bill on the agenda. It is authored by Rep. Emma Greenman of South Minneapolis. It would provide grant funding to Every Third Saturday to provide Veterans with emergency assistance and internships. The bill was laid over for possible inclusion in an omnibus finance bill.

Rep. Greenman then presented HF2374 which would provide funding to renovate historic building six at the Minnesota Veterans Home – Minneapolis campus. The building has been unusable due to a variety of reasons including bad HVAC systems, flooding and being below current care standards. The committee approved the bill and re-referred it to Capital Investment.

Finally, Rep. Shane Hudella of Hastings presented HF1639. This would provide capital improvement funding to Minnesota Veterans Home – Hastings for a campus overhaul and renovation. Like the first two bills, this was an informational hearing.

This week, the House Veterans and Military Affairs committee will not meet. It will likely meet on March 20 to present the omnibus Veterans and Military Affairs finance bill. The Senate State and Local Government and Veterans committee is not expected to hear Veterans bills until March 21.