Minnesota Veterans Bonus Program (Closed)

This entry exists to record a closure rather than a benefit, because section 197.79 remains in the statute book with its full substantive text and its dollar figures intact. The programme paid a resident veteran who provided honorable service in the United States armed forces at any time during the eligibility period, defined as September 11, 2001 to August 30, 2021: $600 where the veteran did not receive one of the listed campaign medals; $1,200 where the veteran received the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal or Inherent Resolve Campaign Medal; and $2,000 where the veteran was eligible for one of those medals and died during the eligibility period as a direct result of a service-connected injury, disease or condition. For a deceased veteran the bonus was paid to a beneficiary, in the order surviving unremarried spouse, children, surviving parent or parents, surviving siblings, then the estate. It is closed. Subdivision 10 says the application period was July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2024, and that the department may not receive or accept new applications after June 30, 2024. There is no discretion in that sentence and no hardship exception in the section. Subdivision 11 allowed an eligible veteran who had previously applied to reapply where the veteran was denied or was entitled to a larger bonus based on the amendments made by Laws 2023, chapter 38. That reapplication right was exercised inside the same application period and closed with it. A veteran reading a guide that describes the Minnesota veterans bonus as available should understand that the statute is intact, the appropriation and the window are not, and that no application filed now can be accepted. The parts of section 197.79 that still operate are the administrative provisions governing claims already determined. Minnesota's other closures and repeals are worth noting in the same place. Laws 2026, chapter 49 repealed section 197.752, the POW/MIA dependent education section, folding its families into section 197.75 on better terms. Laws 2026, chapter 50 repealed sections 196.19, 196.21, 196.22 subdivisions 1, 2, 3 and 5, 196.23 to 196.26 and 197.225, ending the environmental hazards information and assistance programme for veterans and the list of deceased military personnel. And Laws 2026, chapter 96 repealed section 192.49, subdivision 2, the 5 percent state active service pension stipend.