Conference committee adopts veterans omnibus agreement, adds recognition for Special Guerrilla Unit veterans amid objections

May 16, 2025 — The Veterans and Military Omnibus Conference Committee adopted a conference agreement on SF 1959 (article 2) and an amendment (A14) that adds statutory recognition and administrative procedures for veterans of Special Guerrilla Unit (SGU) forces who are verified as eligible. The committee also approved budget adjustments that conference staff said increase general fund spending for veterans and military programs in the 2026–27 biennium.

The agreement funds staff and operations at the state Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Military Affairs, continues homelessness-prevention and food-security grants, and directs nonpartisan staff to incorporate the A14 language into the final conference committee report. Supporters said the package will allow three newly built veterans homes to staff up and expand services; opponents said a related SGU provision unfairly excludes some allied irregular veterans and vowed to continue the fight in future sessions.

Nonpartisan fiscal staff walked conferees through the spreadsheet labeled May 16, 2025. For the Department of Military Affairs, staff listed a proposed operating adjustment of $600,000 in 2026–27 and $802,000 in the tails; an $8,000,000 one-time appropriation for enlistment and retention bonuses; $242,000 for a holistic health and fitness initiative; and $750,000 in the biennium for a cyber coordination cell. Staff also flagged an open appropriation related to National Guard pension offsets that was referenced to House File 2338.

For the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, staff summarized operating adjustments of $1,189,000 in 2026–27 and $1,592,000 in the tails, and an operating adjustment for veterans homes of $39,200,000 in 2026–27 and $51,350,000 in the tails to support staffing for the three new homes in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston. The spreadsheet showed increases of $300,000 (both biennia) for suicide-prevention programs, $300,000 one-time for Lutheran Social Services core programming (a bill from Rep. Clardy), and county veteran service officer grants at $120,000 in the current biennium and in the tails. The sheet also listed $100,000 one-time for a "hometown heroes" grant (House File 492) and a $400,000 reduction from base for the veterans resilience project. On line 29 staff listed $118,000 one-time for a task force on veterans of the secret guerrilla units. Staff summarized the expenditure changes as approximately $50,500,000 in 2026–27 and about $54,538,000 in the tails and reported overall totals (base plus changes) of roughly $365,200,000 for 2026–27 and $370,300,000 in the tails.

Conferees also adopted the policy agreement table (document titled "SF 1959, omnibus veterans article 2 policy agreement," dated 05/15/2025). Nonpartisan staff described which sections would adopt House language, adopt Senate language, or retain identical language. Chair Zhang moved to adopt an A14 amendment; the committee adopted A14 by voice vote. According to a staff summary presented at the hearing, A14 requires the commissioner of corrections to provide a certificate to verified SGU veterans that they can use as proof of veteran status, removes two statutory references that staff considered irrelevant to SGU veteran status, updates task-force membership to add subject-matter experts, and extends the first required task-force meeting from Aug. 15 to Sept. 15.

Supporters spoke in favor of the conference agreement and the SGU recognition. Brad Lindsey, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, said funding the agency at the governor's recommendation "will allow MDVA to continue providing a high level of support to our state's veterans and their families" and that restoring homelessness-prevention funding would help the state move toward ending veteran homelessness. Don Kerr, executive director of the Department of Military Affairs (speaking for Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Sean Manky), thanked conferees and said the enlistment incentives increase was needed; he also said the department will return to address a tails-year gap in enlistment incentives.

Other individuals who testified included Patrick Rowan, executive director of Metro Meals on Wheels, who said, "Thanks to your work, we're gonna be able to continue to serve the 220 veterans that we're serving today, for another two years." Jennifer O'Rourke of Ramsey County described a letter from Commissioner Rafael Ortega supporting the reinstatement of homeless-veterans funding. Dr. Christy Janigo of the American Legion Department of Minnesota and the Minnesota Association of County Veterans Service Officers praised the homelessness and food-security funding and said the groups hope to continue work on claims and benefits issues.

Some speakers objected to the SGU language as drafted. Sen. Anderson said the SGU-focused provision "exclusively giving benefits to the SGU ... excludes people who have served alongside our allied veterans" and announced plans to offer amendments to broaden eligibility. Scott Walker of the Coalition of Allied Vietnam War Veterans and Afghan veterans said in testimony that omitting other allied groups "is, really an abomination" and urged future fixes. Several amendments offered by Sen. Anderson (A26, A31, A27, A28) that would broaden recognition to other allied or irregular forces, or add National Guard and reservist combat veterans, failed on voice votes or were not adopted; one amendment (A30) that would have required state agencies to report on veterans' hiring practices was withdrawn and the sponsor said he would refer it to separate legislation.

The committee voted to adopt the agreement spreadsheet and policy table prepared by nonpartisan staff (document dated May 15, 2025) by voice vote. Nonpartisan staff were instructed to incorporate the A14 language into the final conference committee report and to make technical edits (including capitalization changes flagged by staff) in coordination with the reviser's office. The committee adjourned following brief closing remarks from Chairs and conferees.

Next steps: nonpartisan staff will prepare the final conference committee report incorporating A14 and the agreed budget and policy language; conferees and stakeholders said they expect continued work next session on broader recognition for other allied veterans and on consumer-protection issues (described by conferees as "claim-shark" concerns).