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Minnesota House of Representatives

Veterans and Military Affairs Division

TWELFTH MEETING

2025-2026 Regular Session - Wednesday, March 4, 2026

STATE OF MINNESOTA TWELFTH MEETING
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NINETY-FOURTH SESSION


VETERANS AND MILITARY AFFAIRS DIVISION

Representative Jay Xiong, Co-Chair of the Veterans and Military Affairs Division, called the meeting to order at 8:15 AM on Wednesday, March 4th, 2026, in Room G23 of the Capitol Building.

The Committee Legislative Assistant noted the roll.

Members Present:
XIONG, Jay (Co-Chair)
REHRAUER, Kari (Co-Vice Chair)
BLISS, Matt (Co-Chair)
BJORN, Olson (Co-Vice Chair)
BENNETT, Peggy
CLARDY, Mary Frances
DAVIS, Ben
DURAN, Bidal
FEIST, Sandra
HILL, Josiah
LEE, Xp
REPINSKI, Aaron

A quorum was present.

Rep. Hill moved that the minutes of February 25th, 2026, be adopted. THE MOTION PREVAILED.

Presentation from Meals on Wheels

Presenting:
• Matt Rowan, Executive Director, Meals on Wheels
• Dave Collings, Community Partnerships and Contracts Manager, Meals on Wheels


HF 3919 (Cha); Benefits available to veterans of the Secret War in Laos modified, commissioner of veterans affairs directed to establish an eligibility process, and technical changes made.

Chair Xiong moved that HF 3919 be re-referred to the Transportation Finance and Policy Committee.

Representative Cha presented HF 3919.

Testifying:
• Jon Kelly, Director of Government Affairs, Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs
• Tou T. Yang, Retired Lieutenant Colonel and Vice President, Minnesota Asian American and Pacific Islander Veterans Association
• Andrew Morris, Legislative and Public Affairs Director, Council of Asian Pacific Minnesotans

Chair Xiong renewed the motion that HF 3919 be re-referred to the Transportation Finance and Policy Committee. THE MOTION PREVAILED.


HF3467 (Rehrauer); Commissioner of veterans affairs allowed to direct agency resources to veterans' initiatives, and reports required.

Chair Xiong moved that HF 3467 be laid over.

Representative Rehrauer presented HF 3467.

Testifying:
• Jon Kelly, Director of Government Affairs, Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs
• Stephen Whitehead, adjutant for the Disabled American Veterans(DAV) Department of Minnesota, DAV

Chair Xiong renewed the motion that HF 3467 be laid over.


HF 3741 (Hill); Educational assistance for veterans' children and spouses modified, and money appropriated.

Representative Hill moved that HF 3741 be re-referred to the general register.

Representative Hill presented HF 3741.

Testifying:
• Jon Kelly, Director of Government Affairs, Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs

Representative Hill renewed the motion that HF 3741 be re-referred to the general register. THE MOTION PREVAILED.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:38 AM.




Representative Jay Xiong, Co-Chair



Bonnsy Vue, Committee Legislative Assistant


More Info On This Meeting..
Bills Added:
  • HF3467 (Rehrauer) - Commissioner of veterans affairs allowed to direct agency resources to veterans' initiatives, and reports required.
  • HF3741 (Hill) - Educational assistance for veterans' children and spouses modified, and money appropriated.
  • HF3919 (Cha) - Benefits available to veterans of the Secret War in Laos modified, commissioner of veterans affairs directed to establish an eligibility process, technical changes made, and money appropriated.
Documents:
Audio:
Listen Now
House TV Video:
View Archive

01:02 - Meals on Wheels presentation.
11:49 - HF3919 (Cha) Benefits available to veterans of the Secret War in Laos modified, commissioner of veterans affairs directed to establish an eligibility process, and technical changes made.
57:09 - HF3467 (Rehrauer) Commissioner of veterans affairs allowed to direct agency resources to veterans' initiatives, and reports required.
1:17:02 - HF3741 (Hill) Educational assistance for veterans' children and spouses modified, and money appropriated.
Runs 1 hour, 23 minutes.

Co-Chair Xiong has the gavel.

AGENDA*

I. Presentation by Meals on Wheels

II. HF3919 (Cha) Benefits available to veterans of the Secret War in Laos modified, commissioner of veterans affairs directed to establish an eligibility process, and technical changes made.

III. HF3467 (Rehrauer) Commissioner of veterans affairs allowed to direct agency resources to veterans' initiatives, and reports required.

IV. HF3741 (Hill) Educational assistance for veterans' children and spouses modified, and money appropriated.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, March 11, 2026


*Agenda items (including bills) may be added or removed, and/or order may change.

• HANDOUTS: Handouts MUST BE IN PDF FORMAT, have OCR capability, and emailed to both committee administrators at matt.baumann@house.mn.gov AND john.hultquist@house.mn.gov by 12 p.m. (noon) the business day before the hearing. If you are bringing hard copies, bring 20 copies. Note: submitted written testimony is public and will be included in the official committee record. It may be posted to the committee webpage if received by deadline.
• TESTIFYING: Testimony is limited. The number of testifiers and length of time permitted is at the discretion of the chair, and is subject to change. Please plan accordingly. If you would like to testify, please email both committee administrators at matt.baumann@house.mn.gov AND john.hultquist@house.mn.gov by 12 p.m. (noon) the business day before the hearing.
• DOCUMENTS: Meeting documents may be found on the Veterans and Military Affairs Division webpage.
• VIEWING: This hearing may be viewed on the House webcast schedule page. All video events are closed captioned with automatically generated captions.
• ACCESSIBILITY: To request legislative services for live language interpretation in Hmong, Somali, or Spanish, please contact the Committee Administrator at matt.baumann@house.mn.gov 72 hours in advance of when the service is needed.