The legislature reached its final committee deadline on Friday, April 11 with most committees passing out budget proposals for the next two fiscal years. The House Veterans and Military Affairs Division passed out its budget proposal on Wednesday, while the Senate version was approved by the Finance Committee and sent to the Senate Floor.

The House proposal, HF2444 co-authored by division co-chairs Reps. Bliss and Xiong was unveiled on April 7. Overall, the bill underfunds the agency’s recommended request by 12% or about $16.1 million. The Programs & Services division was 16.5% below the recommendation, including elimination of funding for initiatives to end Veteran homelessness. On the Healthcare side, the proposal was also 12% below MDVA’s request. This underfunding will lead to less staffing at the three newest Veterans Homes in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston. Less staffing will hurt the ability to reach full census at those homes. It will also hurt our ability to keep up with operational and staffing costs at the other Veterans homes throughout the state. The Senate’s version matched MDVA’s operational requests.

The House Veterans budget bill also includes funding to help with food insecurity through Metro Meals on Wheels and through MDVA’s CORE program, this funding was not in the Senate proposal.

There was also additional funding for Veteran Suicide prevention programming, including the development of a comprehensive suicide prevention plan.

Finally, the House proposal includes language to create a task force to define veterans of the secret war in Laos and grant those who meet the criteria limited benefits such as honor guards, grave markers, designations on drivers’ licenses and state ID cards, among others. The task force will establish criteria to determine who served and protocol to determine those deserving of the limited benefits. The task force must complete its work by mid-February 2026. The Senate amended in comparable language on Thursday in the Finance Committee.

Both the House and Senate versions included MDVA policy items to allow for MAXIS database access for the Homeless Veteran Initiative, aligning federal burial benefit eligibility with the state and working towards the creation of a plaque dedicated to Gold Star and Blue Star Families at the Capitol Mall’s Ring of Honor.

The legislature will now take time off to observe Easter and Passover and return on April 22. Following the break, there will be less than four weeks to finish the work of completing a state budget that the Governor, Senate and House can agree upon.