Minnesota Session Laws - 1991, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1991 

                        CHAPTER 123-S.F.No. 460 
           An act relating to veterans; authorizing the 
          commissioner of veterans affairs to assist certain 
          dependents of military personnel; clarifying the name 
          of the state soldiers' welfare fund; changing certain 
          requirements for appointment of county veterans 
          service officers; containing instructions to the 
          revisor of statutes; amending Minnesota Statutes 1990, 
          sections 196.05; 197.03; and 197.60, subdivision 2, 
          and by adding a subdivision. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 196.05, is 
amended to read: 
    196.05 [DUTIES OF COMMISSIONER.] 
    The commissioner shall: 
    (1) act as the agent of a resident of the state having a 
claim against the United States for benefits arising out of or 
by reason of service in the armed forces and prosecute the claim 
without charge; 
    (2) act as custodian of veterans' bonus records; 
    (3) administer the laws relating to the providing of bronze 
flag holders at veterans' graves for memorial purposes; 
    (4) administer the laws relating to recreational or rest 
camps for veterans so far as applicable to state agencies; 
    (5) administer the state soldiers' welfare fund and 
veterans' relief fund and other funds appropriated for the 
payment of bonuses or other benefits to veterans or for the 
rehabilitation of veterans; 
    (6) cooperate with national, state, county, municipal, and 
private social agencies in securing to veterans and their 
dependents the benefits provided by national, state, and county 
laws, municipal ordinances, or public and private social 
agencies; 
    (7) provide necessary assistance where other adequate aid 
is not available to the dependent family of a veteran while the 
veteran is hospitalized and after the veteran is released for as 
long a period as is necessary as determined by the commissioner; 
     (8) act as the guardian of the estate for a minor or an 
incompetent person receiving money from the United States 
government when requested to do so by an agency of the United 
States of America provided sufficient personnel are available; 
    (9) cooperate with United States governmental agencies 
providing compensation, pensions, insurance, or other benefits 
provided by federal law, by supplementing the benefits 
prescribed therein, when conditions in an individual case make 
it necessary; 
    (10) assist in implementing state laws, rights, and 
privileges relating to the reemployment of veterans upon their 
separation from the armed forces; 
    (11) contact, at times as the commissioner deems proper, 
war veterans, as defined in section 197.447, who are confined in 
a public institution; investigate the treatment accorded those 
veterans and report annually to the governor the results of the 
investigations; and the heads of the public institutions shall 
permit the commissioner, or the commissioner's representative, 
to visit any veteran; and, if the commissioner, or the 
commissioner's representative requests any information relative 
to any veteran and the veteran's affairs, the head of the 
institution shall furnish it; and 
    (12) assist dependent family members of military personnel 
who are called from reserve status to extended federal active 
duty during a time of war or national emergency through the 
state soldiers' assistance fund provided by section 197.03; and 
    (13) exercise other powers as may be authorized and 
necessary to carry out the provisions of this chapter and 
chapters 197 and 198, consistent with those chapters. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 197.03, is 
amended to read: 
    197.03 [STATE SOLDIERS' WELFARE ASSISTANCE FUND CREATED.] 
    There is created a state soldiers' welfare assistance fund 
to aid and assist any citizen of Minnesota or resident alien 
residing in Minnesota who served in the military or naval forces 
of the United States, in securing compensation, hospitalization, 
medical treatment, insurance or other relief or benefits to 
which the server may be entitled from the United States or any 
other government or state and for the emergency relief, 
hospitalization, treatment and maintenance of all such persons 
who were bona fide residents of the state at the time their need 
arose and their dependents as hereinafter provided by sections 
196.05 and 197.04 to 197.07. 
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 197.60, 
subdivision 2, is amended to read: 
    Subd. 2.  Except as otherwise prescribed in sections 197.60 
to 197.606, the term of appointment of a veterans service 
officer appointed pursuant to this section shall be for four 
years with the first 12 months of the initial appointment being 
a probationary period, unless removed for cause upon written 
charges and after a hearing thereon.  If the board of county 
commissioners does not intend to reappoint a county veterans 
service officer who has been certified by the department of 
veteran affairs, the board shall present written notice to the 
county veterans service officer, not later than 90 days before 
the termination of the county veterans service officer's term, 
that it does not intend to reappoint the county veterans service 
officer.  If written notice is not timely made, the county 
veterans service officer must automatically be reappointed by 
the board of county commissioners.  
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1990, section 197.60, is 
amended by adding a subdivision to read: 
    Subd. 5.  [OATH.] Every county veterans service officer, 
before entering upon duties, shall take and subscribe the oath 
required of public officials. 
     Sec. 5.  [REVISOR'S INSTRUCTION.] 
    The revisor of statutes is directed to change the words 
"soldiers' welfare fund" where found in Minnesota Statutes, 
sections 196.05, 197.02, 197.03, 197.04, 197.05, 197.06, and 
197.07, to the words "soldiers' assistance fund" in Minnesota 
Statutes 1992 and subsequent editions. 
    Sec. 6.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
    Sections 1 and 2 are effective the day following final 
enactment. 
    Presented to the governor May 17, 1991 
    Signed by the governor May 21, 1991, 1:12 p.m.