School vouchers top the list. Lawmakers need to repeal the enabling legislation's companion bill and let voters settle the debate in November.

Then there's Henry's Law. The Legislature should take another crack at making animal torture a felony.

And now comes the news that tips the scales still more heavily in favor of a special session. Due to funding shifts caused by 11th-hour legislative sleight of hand last winter, the state Bureau of Criminal Identification will fall further behind in conducting criminal background checks necessary for schools, colleges, nursing homes, day-care centers and security agencies to hire employees.

The background checks already take four months, causing delays for vital institutions and businesses that are struggling to put workers on the job. And supplemental funding - money that only the Legislature can provide - is needed immediately for BCI to hire additional employees to erase the backlog.

But the problem will likely get worse before it gets better, thanks to a new law designed to provide dedicated funding for background checks for concealed-carry weapons applicants.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Curt Oda, R-Clearfield, earmarked money from gun permit fees - money that once went to the state General Fund - to the BCI for concealed-weapon background checks which, under a prior law, must be conducted within 60 days. Trouble is, in order to assure the bill's passage, an equal amount of discretionary money was deducted from the BCI's overall budget.

As a result, the undermanned bureau is forced to redirect resources away from vital employment background checks, which carry no deadlines, in order to meet the mandate for prompt processing of concealed-weapon permit applications, a large percentage of which come from outside Utah.

It's a classic case of misplaced priorities. Background checks for schools, child-care facilities and nursing homes should be given precedence. The well-being of our children and the elderly should come first.

Oda said the Legislature will consider a supplemental appropriation next year to provide the manpower for BCI to promptly fulfill all of its duties. But it's already too late. BCI needs the money now.

The governor should ring the bell and call lawmakers back to class.

Background checks already take four months, causing delays for vital institutions and businesses.