Subcommittee hears agency funding overview for Minnesota National Guard and Department of Veterans Affairs

The subcommittee received an agency funding presentation for Senate File 19‑59 covering the Department of Military Affairs (DMA) and the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA) budget requests for the 2026–27 biennium. No final committee vote was taken; the bill was laid over for possible inclusion.

DMA officials highlighted four appropriation areas: general support (including the cyber coordination cell, C3, and a Holistic Health and Fitness program), maintenance of training facilities across Minnesota’s 65 communities, enlistment incentives (tuition reimbursement and reenlistment bonuses), and emergency services (communications equipment for domestic responses). Lieutenant Colonel Eric Affman, director of operations for the Department of Military Affairs, explained a requested plus-up in enlistment incentives of $2 million in FY 2026 and $6 million in FY 2027, citing a temporary pause to the program in SFY 2025 because demand threatened to exceed current funding.

Major General Sean Manky, the adjutant general, and Affman described the cyber coordination cell as shortening response time for state cyber activations by pre‑staging equipment and staff; officials said the program had reduced deployment times from weeks to days and had won an award in its first year of competition. Affman also discussed a one‑time appropriation for an Army Combat Fitness Center in Arden Hills that DMA expects to begin drawing federal cooperative agreement funds against in state fiscal year 2027.

MDVA Commissioner Brad Lindsey outlined MDVA’s change items, including a request to increase the health care division base by about 20.7 percent to staff three new veterans homes and cover operating cost growth. Commissioner Lindsey said the three recently opened state veterans homes are still below full staffing (Bemidji: 57 vacancies; Montevideo: 49; Preston: 39) and that filling beds will increase federal VA per diem, Medicare and other revenues. MDVA also requested increases aimed at preventing backsliding on homelessness and suicide‑prevention efforts.

Committee members pressed staff on details. Senator Anderson sought clarification about change items and line‑item presentation for the cyber coordination cell; staff explained the spreadsheet lines and confirmed an increase to the program’s change item budget. Senator Duckworth emphasized the strategic importance of enlistment incentives in retaining experienced personnel. Commissioner Lindsey confirmed that veteran health navigators (part of suicide‑prevention outreach) are funded and that the department expects continuing federal per‑diem revenues as census rises.

No final appropriation was enacted in the subcommittee; Senate File 19‑59 was laid over for possible inclusion in the omnibus process. Agency officials said DM A and MDVA will return for future hearings and provided detailed line‑item explanations during the presentation.