Dear neighbor,
It’s like the quiet before the storm at the Legislature. The House has provided preliminary approval for most of this session’s largest bills, particularly a supplemental budget package and a tax bill. Now negotiations are gearing up between the House, the Senate and the governor so that we can bring those bills through for final passage and then present them to the governor for his signature before we are scheduled to adjourn in a week and a half.
In the meantime, the House has been voting on single-subject bills this week, including a whole series of bills related to veterans. One of the veterans bills we approved is one I authored. H.F. 3477 encourages jurisdictions to designate themselves as Purple Heart cities and Purple Heart counties, and provide parking spaces at government building reserved for Purple Heart recipients.
Some other veterans bills we passed this week include:
- H.F. 2011/S.F. 1694: Places a bust or statue of Minnesota military hero Gen. John Vessey in the Capitol and designate his birthday – June 29 – as Gen. John Vessey Day in Minnesota. Vessey served 46 years in the military, advancing through the ranks from a 16-year-old Minnesota Army National Guard enlistee to a four-star general. He was selected by President Ronald Reagan to lead the nation’s military forces as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during that very distinguished military career.
- H.F. 3507/S.F. 3004: Adds a veterans’ status check-off box to state agency appointment applications. This check-off would be included with other statistical data the state already collects from individuals on a voluntary basis. The intent is to help better track how veterans fit into our state’s agencies, boards, councils, commissions, and task forces.
- S.F. 1703: Designates July 16 as Atomic Veterans Day.
I should mention that legislation to construct veterans homes in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston remains in the mix for passage this session. Various proposals are under consideration and I will keep working on behalf of our veterans who need these facilities. As they like to say around the Capitol, the situation is fluid.
On a final note, we received notice from the federal government that, as long as we continue making progress on implementation, Minnesota’s standard state ID/driver’s license will be sufficient for boarding commercial, domestic flights at least until October of 2020. This will allow Minnesotans to travel as usual as the state works to bring the new Real ID system on board and get us in compliance with increased federal security protocol.
Until next time, good luck with the fishing opener and have a happy Mother’s Day.
Sincerely,
Matt