Minnesota Veterans Homes

Section 198.01 is one sentence of substance and two of protection. The Minnesota veterans homes provide nursing care and related health and social services for veterans and their spouses who meet the eligibility and admission requirements of the homes. "Veteran" has the section 197.447 meaning, which requires 181 consecutive days of active duty or separation by reason of a disability incurred on active duty. The statute does not set the admission requirements. It delegates them, and the operating criteria published by the department are Minnesota residency, an honorable discharge with 181 consecutive days of active duty unless discharged early for a service-connected disability incurred in the line of duty, and a clinical need for the level of care sought. A spouse of an eligible veteran is admitted where the spouse is at least 55 years old and meets the residency requirement. Because these criteria are administrative rather than statutory, confirm them with the home before planning around them. There are seven homes: Bemidji, Fergus Falls, Luverne, Minneapolis, Montevideo, Preston and Silver Bay. Hastings and Minneapolis also run a domiciliary programme for residents capable of independent living, and Minneapolis runs an adult day centre. Sections 198.31, 198.35 and 198.36 name particular homes in statute. The closure protections are the interesting part. The commissioner may not permanently close a veterans home unless closure of that home is specifically authorised or required by a law enacted by the legislature after July 1, 2015. That is a standing bar on administrative closure, and the 2015 date means a pre-2015 authorisation does not count. Laws 2026, chapter 96, section 12 added a narrow temporary closure power and hedged it. The commissioner may temporarily close a veterans home in compliance with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requirements on receiving an involuntary termination notice. The commissioner must not temporarily close a home until the home has transferred, relocated or discharged every resident under section 144A.161, subdivision 6, in a safe and orderly manner to the most appropriate setting for each resident. Before closing, the commissioner must notify the governor and the chairs and ranking minority members of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over veterans affairs. The word "permanently" was inserted into the older sentence at the same time, so the two powers do not collide. Section 198.32 carries residents' rights and a complaints procedure, and section 198.267 covers veterans in state-operated facilities. Section 97A.465, subdivision 7 lets a resident of a Minnesota veterans home obtain a firearm or muzzleloader deer licence and take an antlerless deer without a permit in any permit area open during the respective season, and lets another person assist that resident during the season without holding a deer licence. Since Laws 2026, chapter 50, a veteran whom VA has determined forfeited entitlement to federal benefits under 38 U.S.C. chapter 61 does not qualify for any state-funded veterans benefit, service or programme under chapters 196 to 198, which includes admission here.