Not with a bang but with a whimper.
That's how the 2008 Legislature wrapped up its annual general session at midnight Wednesday in a calm, workmanlike fashion.
"There was comity, not comedy," joked Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., as one of the more quiet sessions in a decade came to an end.
Utahns get a new $13 billion state budget, a small sales tax hike for roads, an income tax cut for the 70,000 citizens who buy their own health insurance and around 300 new laws to obey — minus the handful that might be vetoed by Huntsman.
This is an election year for Huntsman, all 75 House members and half of the 29-member Senate. And after voters last November slapped down conservative Republicans over the private school voucher law, which citizens strongly rejected, this 45-day session was never set up to be a battle-ground affair.
GOP leaders banned any talk of vouchers and set about funding public education as much as possible.
In fact, the major public fuss this session was not over policy or power but a verbal stumble by Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, who referred to a black baby and a dark, ugly thing during a mid-session debate over a school finance bill.
Buttars refused to resign, even though the Utah chapter of the NAACP demanded he do so, and he announced he will seek re-election this year.
The Buttars saga aside, House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, said he thought the session went well. "It was very civil, cordial, and perhaps a bit slower-paced than it actually should have been."
With only a few hours left, the House and Senate were still haggling over some important, but small, budget items. For example, out of nowhere, House leaders complained, the Senate amended a routine revenue bond bill to authorize the University of Utah to build a new business building with little or no discussion beforehand.
Some of the major actions of the part-time Legislature include:
• Public education teachers will get healthy raises of at least $1,700 each. Lawmakers wanted to do more for public education, but late-session tax revenue updates showed there would be more than $300 million less than originally anticipated. Still, it represents a 19 percent raise for teachers over the past three years and, Huntsman said, is a proud accomplishment.
• Tough anti-illegal immigrant bills that will make it harder for undocumented citizens to find work or obtain public benefits, taking effect in July 2009.
• A start at what Huntsman and legislators hope will become comprehensive health-care reform. It includes an $18.7 million tax cut for Utahns who buy their own health insurance.
Those 70,000 taxpayers will be able to pay their insurance premiums with "pre-tax" dollars, which could save those people between $100 and $500 per year.
• A small statewide sales tax hike. The 0.05 percentage-point increase means that on all purchases except food, Utahns will pay 5 cents more on a $100 tab. It means maybe a $9 increase in sales tax paid per Utahn per year, GOP leaders said. The approximately $22 million raised will be put toward what are called road "choke-points" — areas where roads narrow, slowing traffic flows.
• Salt Lake City will be allowed to continue with its new domestic partnership registry.
• So-called "alcopop" drinks, flavored drinks that contain 3.2 percent alcohol, must be removed from grocery and convenience stores and placed in state liquor stores. But on the side of more reasonable liquor laws, restaurants and private clubs will be allowed to pour stiffer drinks with more alcohol in drinks such as martinis.
• Severe abuse or torture of domestic cats and dogs can be a felony on the first offense.
• St. George will get a $39 million "bridge loan" from the state to allow it to immediately start building a new airport northeast of the city.
• Airlines, especially Delta Air Lines, will get a tax break. Legislators want to encourage Delta to keep its hub in Salt Lake City by providing a $5.7 million tax break.
• About $100 million will be spent on plans for the $1.85 billion rebuilding of I-15 in Utah County. The bond will be authorized in the 2009 session, although GOP House leaders warned their colleagues that taxes may have to be raised next year to help pay for highway and water projects.
• Salt Lake City will get some special funds to help the Utah Transit Authority build a TRAX line to Salt Lake City International Airport.
• A statewide building equalization bill will mean the established four school districts in Salt Lake County will have to give some of their taxpayer dollars to the new Jordan West School District so the growing district can build new schools.
• Children between the ages of 5 and 8 will have to sit on a special "booster seat" when strapped into normal seat belts in vehicles.
• House GOP leadership made sure that several million dollars were available to provide dental and eye-wear for some Medicaid patients, avoiding the protests of previous years by some of Utah's needy.
Huntsman told the Deseret Morning News that the health-care-reform package he backed could have blown up, but with "good legislative leadership we avoided what could have been a drawn-out and painful" process on that issue.
"We all came out pulling together" in the 2008 session, Huntsman added. "We really did do the work of the people."
House Minority Leader Brad King, D-Price, said that until Wednesday he felt "very good" about the session — with Democrats getting a number of last-minute funding measures they wanted.
But the final day, Republicans ran two omnibus bills on taxes and public education. And House members couldn't even amend the big tax bill because, through parliamentary procedure, they could only vote the bill up or down. The bill passed, but only after a number of House Democrats and Republicans complained about the unprecedented bundling of critical issues in two large bills.
Curtis said he is most proud personally that money was found for the Mountain View Corridor super highway on Salt Lake Valley's west side, as well as full funding for CHIP, the Children's Health Insurance Program.
Said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem: "This was a session that saw a lot of plodding when it came to the issues, like a horse plodding along. I saw that early on and I thought it was something that was unique for that particular week, but it just continued through the entire session. We had a (high) number of bills and just kept moving through them without any real big highs or lows. That was an interesting dynamic this particular session."
While it appeared at times over the past 45 days that conservative legislators would take broad actions in a number of areas, it seemed that Buttars' problems and the accompanying public outcry and statements by leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that lawmakers move slowly on immigration issues seemed to soften rhetoric and stands on some controversial measures.
Huntsman also sent down messages that lawmakers may be moving too quickly in areas like immigration, and a few such bills that had heated House debate quietly died in the Senate.
When lawmakers convened Jan. 21, Republicans hoped to give a $100 million tax cut, record increases for public education and an overall ripe year for state spending. But even though they ended up with $775 million in one-time and ongoing new monies — the third largest surplus in state history — they still adopted a small statewide sales tax hike, which disappointed a number of conservatives.
Finally, legislators, citizens and lobbyists alike were glad to be back in the restored Capitol after three sessions in cramped, temporary quarters, which likely contributed to the session's collegial nature.
"This was my first (legislature) in the Capitol," Huntsman said. "And these hallowed halls led to decorum all around."
Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche
E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com