How much would veterans' bills cost?

Patrick Buffkin, a legislative analyst with Nelson Mullins in Raleigh, said the veterans groups he works with are being careful to push for bills that don't have a high price tag.

The three top priorities — studying traumatic brain injury, extending a tax exemption on military pensions and creating a Cabinet-level veterans post — are not expensive, though the exemption would cut some state income tax revenue.

"The Veterans Council sets their agenda not based on just what they want but also what is feasible," he said. "We understand that the state's facing a serious budget crunch. We've looked for ideas that will make a difference in veterans' lives, but also not cost a lot of money."

The other bills being pushed by legislators are also relatively minor, he said.

In recent years, he said the N.C. Veterans Council has gotten funding set aside for two new veterans nursing homes, helped raise the homestead tax exemption for disabled veterans and reserved a position for a veteran on the State Personnel Commission.

Zeb Alley says veterans didn't write a spate of recent bills.

The longtime lobbyist, who works pro bono for the N.C. Veterans Council, said that group has pushed a handful of bills that would elevate the veterans commission to a Cabinet-level post, for example.

But a spate of recent bills to allow free admission to museums, among other things, comes from legislators themselves.

"Those bills are dreamed up by members of the General Assembly," he said.

Alley, an Army veteran who received a Purple Heart in Korea, said that there are a lot of veterans in the legislature, such as Reps. Grier Martin, Ric Killian and Ronnie Sutton. But he said pretty much all of the legislators are military-friendly.

"It's an easy group to lobby for because they're all anxious to help veterans," he said. "You don't have to be a veteran to be a friend of the veterans."

The N.C. Veterans Council has set its sights higher.

Despite the proliferation of bills giving new perks to active-duty and retired members of the military, the coalition of state veterans groups is pushing for three more substantial bills:

* Studying traumatic brain injury. The state Institute of Medicine would study mental health services for injured veterans.

* Extending tax exemptions on military pensions. Veterans with pensions that began before 1989 do not pay state income tax. This bill would extend that benefit to all vets.

* Creating a Cabinet veterans position. The state Division of Veterans Affairs would be elevated to a Cabinet-level position appointed by the governor.

Bruce Edwards, a retired Army colonel who heads the state Veterans of Foreign Wars, said the tax exemption may be the toughest sell, but he argued it would attract a lot of retirees to the state.

He said the other perks — which include free tours of state museums and free parking — are nice, but they're not the main mission right now.

"It's all good," he said. "But those are the three big ones."