ST. PAUL – As plans to fund the construction of new veterans homes in Minnesota remain works in progress, two other vets-related bills Rep. Matt Bliss, R-Pennington, authored are deeper in the process.
On Wednesday, the House provided final approval without opposition for a bill (H.F. 368/S.F. 327) Bliss authored prohibiting agreements that assign military pay or benefits to an individual who did not earn them. These types of agreements are prohibited by federal law but there is no enforcement mechanism.
“My bill fills this enforcement role and allows us to crack down on these con artists who are siphoning veterans’ pension benefits,” Bliss said. “This issue largely has flown under the public’s radar, but the state attorney general has received a number of complaints of predatory lenders deceiving veterans and their beneficiaries in order to get at their pension funds. For example, one person we heard from took a $30,000 loan against their pension and it ended up being a $105,000 payoff commitment.”
That bill now is on the brink of enactment, following a veterans-related bill (H.F. 3477/S.F. 3262) Bliss authored which was signed into law Monday. The new law 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.
Meantime, House proposals to apply excess funds from the Vikings stadium account toward construction of three new veterans homes – in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston – remain in the mix for potential approval this session. This same funding mechanism is in two separate House bills.
“A main focus of mine remains on bringing a veterans home to Bemidji,” Bliss said. “In the meantime, these two bills of mine which gained approval will help in other ways the men and women who have served. I hope the governor signs these bills into law soon as we continue to look for agreement on the vets homes.”
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