Conference committee reviews Minnesota veterans omnibus budget; defers decisions pending budget target

The Conference Committee on Senate File 1959, the omnibus veterans and military affairs budget, met Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Saint Paul to walk through the House and Senate positions; committee chairs took no formal action and recessed pending a state budget target.

Committee members and staff spent the session comparing line-by-line budget spreadsheets and identifying policy differences between the chambers. Helen Roberts, House fiscal staff, said the House bill was targeted at $5 million above the fiscal base for each biennium and that the bill’s total general fund spending for the agencies under the committee’s jurisdiction was $319,700,000. A Senate staff overview identified operating adjustments and change items in the Senate position, including a $600,000 biennial operating adjustment for the Department of Military Affairs and biennial increases for the Department of Veterans Affairs programs and for…