State Senator Scott Meyer told the Senate Appropriations Human Resources Division that Senate Bill 2265 would authorize a contingent line of credit of $3 million to help finish a Veterans Memorial Center adjacent to the Fargo National Cemetery.

"The $3,000,000 that you will see in front of you again with this line of credit will be used towards a gathering area to be used by family and friends of the deceased veteran prior to or following the interment," Meyer said. He described planned facilities including offices, a gallery, indoor restrooms, a garage for a hearse and a parking lot; site work and paving were estimated in testimony to add roughly $1 million.

Meyer and private project representatives said the land purchase and cemetery expansion to 35 acres were completed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the local nonprofit has been fundraising for construction. Jim McGrawlom, fundraiser/project coordinator for the Fargo Memorial Honor Guard, said the nonprofit is a 501(c)(3) and that, if built, the organization would donate the completed building to the VA for ownership and maintenance; McGrawlom said about $1.5 million in private funds are on hand.

Jason Hicks, commander of the Fargo Memorial Honor Guard, said the VA owns the land after recent federal purchases and "they're gonna allow us to build on it"; he said the nonprofit would manage construction and then hand the keys to the VA. Hicks and McGrawlom described operational problems at the current site—no permanent restroom or shelter for families, limited parking and winter conditions that left volunteers waiting in cars for ceremonies.

Meyer provided a project cost breakdown from architects and said the latest plan is a roughly 7,400-square-foot building estimated at about $500 per square foot (about $3.7 million) plus site prep and paving. He said the group raised about $1.5 million during recent fundraising and that private in-kind donations and pro bono architectural work are part of the financing plan; the state line of credit would be intended to bridge the remainder pending VA approval.

Committee members pressed presenters on why state funds are being requested for a facility at a national cemetery and on the division of responsibilities between federal and state cemeteries. Meyer and veterans' representatives said the VA's National Cemetery Administration had not provided construction funds for a building at this rural-initiative cemetery and that the VA would assume operating and maintenance costs after approving and accepting the donated building.

Questions from senators covered ownership (the VA owns the 35 acres), whether the facility would become federal property (presenters said yes, after donation), ongoing maintenance (the VA), flood and drainage issues at the site, and project timing. The nonprofit said it expects to start construction as soon as approvals are secured and estimated a possible completion by 2027 if fundraising and approvals align.

No formal committee vote on SB 2265 appears in the transcript excerpt.