Minnesota National Guard Pay and Protection in State Active Service

Section 192.49, subdivision 1 sets the pay for the Minnesota military forces in state active service, and it changed in 2026. Every commissioned officer and enlisted member of the military forces, while engaged in state active service as defined in section 190.05, subdivision 5a, must receive from the state pay and allowances at the rate paid or allowed by law to officers or enlisted members of the same grade and length of service in the armed forces of the United States, but basic pay must not be less than the basic pay of an E-5 pay grade according to the military basic pay tables maintained by the federal Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Before Laws 2026, chapter 96, section 2, the floor was a flat "$130 a day". Replacing a fixed dollar figure with a reference to the federal E-5 table means the floor now rises with every federal pay raise without a legislative act, which is a structural improvement for a junior soldier activated for a flood or a civil disturbance. The same act repealed section 192.49, subdivision 2. That subdivision paid a member ordered to state active service a stipend equal to 5 percent of base pay, to compensate for the pension inequality between state active service and comparable federal service. It no longer exists. The Department of Defense benefits library still describes both the $130 daily floor and the 5 percent stipend as current Minnesota law; neither is. "State active service" is the section 190.05, subdivision 5a definition, which is the governor's order under state authority and at state expense. It is distinct from "federally funded state active service" in subdivision 5b, which is title 32 duty, and from "federal active service" in subdivision 5c, which is title 10. Those three terms carry different consequences across Minnesota law, including the income tax subtraction in section 290.0132, subdivision 11 and the tuition reimbursement extensions in section 192.501. Injury, disease, disability or death in state active service is compensated by the state. A member wounded, taken ill or disabled while serving on state active service is eligible for compensation from the state, and where the member dies as a result, beneficiaries are eligible for compensation in the same amount allowed for a member serving in a federal active duty status. Employment protection. Under section 192.26 a public officer or employee of the state or of a political subdivision who is a member of the National Guard or a reserve component is entitled to leave of absence without loss of pay, seniority status, efficiency rating, vacation, sick leave or other benefits for the time engaged in training or active service, not exceeding a total of 15 days in any calendar year. The federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act sits on top of that for both public and private employment and is not displaced by it. Compensation paid for state active service and for federally funded state active service is subtracted from Minnesota taxable income under section 290.0132, subdivision 11, along with Active Guard Reserve pay. Ordinary drill pay is not.