Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature
Minnesota House of Representatives

Veterans and Military Affairs Division

SIXTH MEETING

2025-2026 Regular Session - Wednesday, March 19, 2025

STATE OF MINNESOTA SIXTH MEETING
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETY-FOURTH SESSION


VETERANS AND MILITARY AFFAIRS DIVISION

Representative Jay Xiong, Co-Chair of the Veterans and Military Affairs Division, called the meeting to order at 8:15 AM on Wednesday, March 19, 2025, in Room G23 of the Capitol Building.

The Committee Legislative Assistant noted the roll.

Members Present:
XIONG, Jay (Co-Chair)
HEMMINGSEN-JAEGER, Amanda (Vice Co-Chair)
BLISS, Matt (Co-Chair)
BJORN, Olson (Vice Co-Chair)
BENNETT, Peggy
CLARDY, Mary Frances
DAVIS, Ben
DURAN, Bidal
FEIST, Sandra
HILL, Josiah
REHRAUER, Kari
REPINSKI, Aaron


A quorum was present.

Representative Hemmingsen-Jaeger moved that the minutes of March 12, 2025, be adopted. THE MOTION PREVAILED.

HF 1855 (Greenman); Veterans benefit services federal accreditation required, service providers guarantee of benefits prohibited, and remedies and civil penalties provided.

Chair Xiong moved that HF 1855 be laid over for possible inclusion in the Veterans and Military Affairs Division’s omnibus bill.

Representative Greenman presented HF 1855.

Testifying:
• Kristy Janigo, Legislative Chair, American Legion Department of Minnesota
• Ben Johnson, Deputy Commissioner for Programs and Services, Minnesota Department Veterans Affairs
• Ryan Scalmanini, Director of Disability Compliance and Analytics, Veteran Benefits Guide
• Stephen “Butch” Whitehead, Department Adjutant, Disabled American Veterans
• Barry Henricksen, Adjutant and Quartermaster, State of Minnesota Veteran of Foreign Wars
• Jon Gohn, Director, State of Minnesota Veteran of Foreign Wars
• Brian Lewis, Military Law and Veteran Affair Claims Attorney, Francis White Law Professional Limited Liability Company
• John Baker, Executive Director, Minnesota Association County Veterans Service Officers
• Benjamin Krause, Chairman and Attorney, United Veterans Leadership Council
• Marissa LaCourt, Assistant County Veterans Service Officer, Goodhue County
• John Blomstrom, Manager, Government and Public Affairs, Veterans Guardian
• Ross LaCourt, Marine Veteran and District Vice, The American Legion

Vice Chair Hemmingsen-Jaeger assumed the gavel at 9:46 AM.

Chair Bliss moved that HF 1855 be re-referred to Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee. THE MOTION PREVAILED.

The meeting was adjourned at 10:00 AM.




Representative Jay Xiong, Co-Chair



Bonnsy Vue, Committee Legislative Assistant


More Info On This Meeting..
Bills Added:
  • HF1855 (Greenman) - Veterans benefit services federal accreditation required, service providers guarantees of benefits prohibited, and remedies and civil penalties provided.
Documents:
Audio:
Listen Now
House TV Video:
View Archive

00:49 - HF1855 (Greenman) Veterans benefit services federal accreditation required, service providers guarantees of benefits prohibited, and remedies and civil penalties provided.
Runs 1 hour, 24 minutes.

HF1855 (Greenman) Veterans benefit services federal accreditation required, service providers guarantees of benefits prohibited, and remedies and civil penalties provided.

*Agenda items (including bills) may be added or removed, and/or order may change.

• HANDOUTS: Handouts MUST BE IN PDF FORMAT, have OCR capability, and emailed to both committee administrators at matt.baumann@house.mn.gov AND john.hultquist@house.mn.gov by 12 p.m. (noon) the business day before the hearing. If you are bringing hard copies, bring 20 copies. Note: submitted written testimony is public and will be included in the official committee record. It may be posted to the committee webpage if received by deadline.
• TESTIFYING: Testimony is limited. The number of testifiers and length of time permitted is at the discretion of the chair, and is subject to change. Please plan accordingly. If you would like to testify, please email both committee administrators at matt.baumann@house.mn.gov AND john.hultquist@house.mn.gov by 12 p.m. (noon) the business day before the hearing.
• DOCUMENTS: Meeting documents may be found on the Veterans and Military Affairs Division webpage.
• VIEWING: This hearing may be viewed on the House webcast schedule page. All video events are closed captioned with automatically generated captions.
• ACCESSIBILITY: To request legislative services for live language interpretation in Hmong, Somali, or Spanish, please contact the Committee Administrator at matt.baumann@house.mn.gov 72 hours in advance of when the service is needed.
o To request legislative services for American Sign Language (ASL), please contact the Committee Administrator at matt.baumann@house.mn.gov a minimum of one week before the services are needed.
o To request legislative services for Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) closed captioning services, please contact the Committee Administrator at matt.baumann@house.mn.gov a minimum of two weeks before the services are needed.
o For information on accommodations please visit Accessibility Frequently Asked Questions.
o If you have accessibility or usability comments to share on any Minnesota Legislature website, please submit your comments using the Accessibility & Usability Comment Form.