Minnesota poised to honor veterans of 'Secret War' in wide-ranging finance, policy bill that passes House

In a highly partisan environment, the omnibus veterans and military affairs finance and policy bill traditionally supersedes party lines.

That continues in 2025.

Sponsored by Rep. Matt Bliss (R-Pennington), who co-chairs the House Veterans and Military Affairs Division with Rep. Jay Xiong (DFL-St. Paul), HF2444/SF1959* received House approval on a 126-6 vote Tuesday. As amended, it now returns to the Senate — which passed its version 65-0 April 23 — for concurrence. A conference committee will likely need to work out the differences.

“Our veterans deserve more than symbolic gestures; they deserve real and lasting change. This bill should not leave any veteran behind, not on a battlefield and certainly not in the systems that should support them when they return home,” Xiong said.

Fifty years ago Wednesday, the final U.S. helicopter left the U.S. embassy in Saigon, marking an end to the American presence in Vietnam.

The bill would honor the sacrifices made by elders of Minnesota’s Hmong community, who fought on behalf of the United States during the Secret War, a period of covert U.S. military intervention in Laos, primarily during the Vietnam War.

The bill calls for veteran status under state law to certain people who served with secret guerilla units or other irregular forces in Laos: naturalized under the federal Hmong Veterans’ Naturalization Act of 2000 or whom the Department of Veterans Affairs has determined served honorably with a special guerrilla unit or other irregular forces from a base in Laos in support of the United States and is now a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. An advisory task force would be created to develop criteria to determine a person’s eligibility for “Veteran of the Secret War in Laos” status.

“This bill is to restore the spirit, the dignity and the honor of these men that have not been recognized for too long. … It is time that we recognize and honor these brave men who put their lives on the line for democracy at a time when democracy was hope to those in Southeast Asia,” Rep. Ethan Cha (DFL-Woodbury) said at a pre-session news conference.

Added Xiong: “Today we say their service matters, their sacrifice matters.”

Among other policy provisions, the bill would:

• increase the maximum bonded indebtedness allowed for the State Armory Building Commission from $15 million to $45 million;
• add 5% of servicemember base pay as a pension offset for those activated for state active duty;
• align state law with federal laws governing eligibility and fees for burial in veteran’s cemeteries;
• let surviving spouses of servicemembers who died because of their military service to remain eligible to use the servicemember’s education benefits even if the surviving spouse remarries;
• require the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop a comprehensive plan to prevent Minnesota veterans from dying by suicide and report to the Legislature by Feb. 15, 2026;
• extend the Department of Veterans Affairs’ read-only access to MAXIS, a computer system used to determine eligibility for public assistance; and
• require placement of a memorial plaque in the Court of Honor to recognize the service and sacrifices of Minnesota’s Gold Star and Blue Star families. An adopted amendment would ensure the Capitol Area Architectural and Planning Board selects a submitted design to use as a basis for final production and the board must include the veterans affairs commissioner on the design review committee.

An amendment was unsuccessfully offered by Rep. Emma Greenman (DFL-Mpls) to require federal accreditation of for-profit veterans benefit services providers and prohibit such providers from making a benefit guarantee. The want is in the governor’s budget proposal.

Rep. Bjorn Olson (R-Fairmont) said the language can continue to be worked on in conference committee to satisfy all parties.

“We will ensure veterans are cared for while closing the window to veterans benefit fraud without slamming the door on individuals who are here to help our veterans receive the benefits they have earned and they deserve.”

From a monetary standpoint, the bill calls for $319.72 million in 2026-27 biennial spending, a $5 million increase over February base, and just 10% of increases the Military Affairs and Veterans Affairs departments sought.

The Department of Veterans Affairs would get an additional net $4.38 million that includes some current funding being rearranged; the Department of Military Affairs would receive a $599,000 operating adjustment.

For the former, the bill calls for an $11.64 million operating adjustment increase for veterans homes; $2.2 million for an increase in suicide prevention programming; $500,000 to increase Metro Meals on Wheels funding for veterans who don’t qualify for other forms of financial assistance; $500,000 for the Lutheran Social Services CORE program to provide home-delivered meals to veterans in Minnesota outside of Hennepin and Ramsey counties and technical, enrollment, outreach, and volunteer recruitment assistance to member programs; and $120,000 to appoint and train three subject matter experts — women veterans, veteran suicide, and justice-involved veteran technical assistance coordinators — to serve as a resource to county veterans service officers.

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But the bill also comes with a couple proposed Department of Veterans Affairs cuts: $10 million for programs to reduce veteran homelessness and $700,000 by eliminating two direct grants in its base funding.

“We prioritized, for the first time in a veterans’ bill, veteran suicide. Our veteran suicide rate has not gotten any better, and has actually getting worse,” Bliss said. “Homelessness has been declared as near functional zero. We must do the same for suicide.”