You can't put a price on privacy and respect.

It's easier, though, to tabulate the costs of incentive programs and social workers.

While the talk of the day today at the Capitol focused on a bill that would, in effect, restrict protests at military funerals, that piece of legislation was just one of a handful of military initiatives that will be put before North Dakota lawmakers this session.

Also in the hopper are bills that would sustain a monetary bonus program for veterans, provide continued tuition assistance to National Guard members and fund licensed social workers to help soldiers and their families.

"It's hard to say any one of (the bills) is a priority," Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, commander of the state Guard, said. "If there is a priority, it would be to focus on our veterans - the people that have been deployed or are deployed - and addressing their return."

Sprynczynatyk said incentive programs have worked well in North Dakota. More soldiers were recruited here in 2006 than in any of the previous 10 years, he said. Other programs in the works, such as hiring full-time social workers and setting up child-custody arrangements, will help those soldiers after they've been mobilized.

Here's a look at some of the state's military initiatives this session:

Veterans Bonus Program

Lawmakers set aside $5 million in 2005 to further compensate soldiers from any branch of service who have been called to active duty. Since then, about half of that amount has been used. The North Dakota National Guard is asking that the state continue the program - which was originally set to expire this year - through 2009, and is seeking no further funding. It also wants to extend the program to nonresidents who serve in the North Dakota National Guard.

The program pays soldiers $100 a month for overseas service (up to $1,800), and $50 per month for domestic service (to $900). Additionally, the program pays $2,500 to heirs of soldiers who died in service or received the Purple Heart.

As of Jan. 1, about 2,300 applications have been processed and $2.1 million paid to soldiers or their families in the state.

The bill is SB2115.

Tuition assistance

The Guard will ask legislators to again set aside $2 million to pay its soldiers' tuition. It wants to expand the program to include trade schools, not just the state's colleges and universities.

Sprynczynatyk said the tuition payments have been a tremendous recruiting tool. About 450 students take advantage of the program each semester, he said, and that number would likely grow if the postsecondary options also included trade schools.

The bill is SB2115.

Social workers

After soldiers started coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan, the Guard realized it needed to provide a means for some of them to ease back into their normal lives. Federal funds were obtained to hire two social workers - one in Bismarck and one in Fargo - to help soldiers and their families adjust to life after war and separation. Up to 30 percent of returning soldiers, the Guard estimated, would experience post traumatic stress disorder.

The federal money for those positions is no longer available, but Sprynczynatyk said the benefit to soldiers is too great to abandon the positions. The Guard is asking the state for $320,000 to fund licensed social workers.

The bill is SB2016.

Child custody

Senate bill 2064 would not allow a soldier's mobilization to be used against them in determining some child-custody arrangements. The bill would require that child-custody arrangements revert to pre-mobilization agreements after the soldier-guardian returns home.

"We've had situations in the last year or so where someone's being deployed has been used against them as a reason to change the child-custody arrangement," Sprynczynatyk said. "We think that should not be a factor in the arrangement between two parents. They're part of the military, and should not be penalized for that."

Recruiting-retention

The Guard is again seeking an appropriation of $400,000 for its recruiting and retention efforts.

Though recruiting numbers have been up, getting and keeping junior officers has been difficult here and across the country. The Guard wants to provide a state-commissioning bonus for junior officers.

(Reach reporter Tony Spilde at 250-8260 or tony.spilde@bismarcktribune.com.)