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Lawmakers hear request to allocate $500,000 to honor Southeast Asian veterans on 50th anniversary of fall of Saigon
Summary
Rep. Jim Nash and the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans asked the committee for $500,000 to support commemorations for Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese Minnesotans on the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, citing gaps from earlier competitive grants.
Representative Jim Nash presented House File 14‑40 seeking an appropriation to support commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, with a focus on Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese Minnesotans.
Sia Her (identified in the transcript as the executive director of the Council on Asian Pacific Minnesotans) testified that a $500,000 request is intended to address gaps left by a 2024 competitive grant program administered by the Minnesota Historical Society, which she said produced minimal awards to Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese organizations. Her told the committee the council has worked in communities since 2022 to prepare for the fiftieth anniversary and that the funding is “critically important because of the age of the surviving Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese veterans.”
Committee co‑chair remarks reviewed prior appropriations passed in the 2024 session: $300,000 for statewide historical and cultural grants administered by the Minnesota Historical Society through a competitive grant process and $150,000 for a commemoration program administered by the Minnesota Historical Society in collaboration with the Minnesota Humanities Center. Co‑chair Vang and other members said the prior funding and additional Historical Society support had been used to support commemoration efforts, but discussion among members and Her focused on whether Cambodian, Lao and Vietnamese communities had received adequate shares through those programs.
Co‑chair Vang questioned the council’s outreach and urged more granular allocations or separate appropriations for each community; Representative Nash said he would work with co‑chair Vang to provide spreadsheets showing distribution of previously allocated funds and to collaborate on targeting funds to specific communities if needed.
No formal committee vote on HF 14‑40 was recorded in the transcript.
Ending: Committee discussion emphasized honoring veterans and concerns about past grant distribution; Representative Nash agreed to provide details on prior distributions and to work with members on any follow‑up appropriations.
