In a series of fits and starts, lawmakers handed off some of their most controversial bills to task forces. After initial shoving matches, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and legislative leaders played nice. And in a year flush with cash, lawmakers tamped down spending in the $9 billion state budget.

At midnight Wednesday, Utah's new governor and legislative leaders declared themselves satisfied after the first session to test and define their relationships.

House Speaker Greg Curtis called this the session of "rebuilding."

"We really have accomplished a lot," he said. "That comes from cooperation, rather than fighting."

Huntsman and his staff were equally self-congratulatory. "We're all smiles," said Chief of Staff Jason Chaffetz.

But while lawmakers and the governor are proud of their closed-door deal-making, the session lacked something. State leaders seemed a bit timid. It was more than just their conservative reluctance to let government grow; fear, perhaps, of launching programs that were too big or risky or costly.

Committing themselves to the status quo, they deferred action on broader tax reform, abandoned proposals to tax and break up Intermountain Health Care, put off a plan to essentially eliminate so-called "no-fault" divorces in Utah and refused to fund a sweeping drug rehabilitation program for prison inmates.

In a rare bold move, they ignored criticism and the pleas of thousands in the community affected by voiding undocumented immigrants' driver licenses and replacing them with a "driving privilege" card. The new card could not be used as official identification in dealing with government agencies.

Lawmakers signed off on Huntsman's plans to eliminate the state Energy Office, restructure the Department of Community and Economic Development and consolidate state Information Technology functions. They matched some of his requests for education funding, worker raises and tourism promotion. But his plan for a innovative and pricey new incentive program for beginning teachers was sidetracked. And his ideas for executive branch ethics reform stalled. And, figuring they have another year before the 2006 election, lawmakers refused to let voters choose whether to amend the Utah Constitution to limit him and successors to two terms.

Although the new governor pledged to spend political capital earned in the 2004 election, there is not much evidence he did. The force of his personality apparently was not enough to persuade lawmakers to cut corporate income taxes, give parents who send their children to private school a tax break or grant unmarried adults some marriage-like rights.

"You know going into it to expect the unexpected," Huntsman said Wednesday.

One thing lawmakers didn't expect this year was a financial windfall. But midway through the session, they found themselves awash in $675 million in additional revenue. In many ways, that money defined the lawmaking process. But having money posed its own problem for lawmakers.

"It's a different stress to have a lot of money," said Curtis. "Everyone thinks it's easy. It's not."

After years of slicing through state budgets, state leaders found themselves with many more demands than they could satisfy. Rather than venturing into new programs, lawmakers shoveled much of the money - $265 million - into transportation and building projects. They raised the Weighted Pupil Unit 4.5 percent, set aside $4.6 million to cover medical benefits for Medicaid patients, and dedicated $18 million for tourism promotion and $1 million for film industry incentives. And in the final hours, they scraped together another $80,000 to buy medicines for AIDS patients, adding that to $100,000 already set aside.

Chaffetz considers the tourism funding an endorsement of Huntsman's economic development policies. "That's a home run for us," he said.

Democratic lawmakers were less thrilled with Republicans' budgeting.

House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake City, called the transportation-over-all-else budget, an example of "misplaced priorities."

"We had an opportunity this year to make a difference," Becker said. "But they are reluctant to fund public education in a way that would really make a difference for the kids."

Senate Democrats were less critical. "Everyone got a good share of the economic recovery," said Minority Whip Ron Allen.

Most of the lobbyists and advocates in the halls seemed to agree. "There have been things left unfunded in the past that need to be completed," said Sandy Mayor Tom Dolan, crediting lawmakers for restoring funding for roads.

The bleak early days of the session turned into glee in the final hours for advocates of low-income Utahns and their children when lawmakers set aside $3 million to fund the Children's Health Insurance Program - enough to fund preventative care for an additional 12,000 children.

"We're absolutely ecstatic," said Utah Children Director Karen Crompton.

Lawmakers were willing to fund those existing programs. But conservative leaders refused to let lawmakers venture into any new programs for fear of tying their hands in future years. The Senate and the House deadlocked over $4.5 million for a veterans nursing home and $6.2 million for the Drug Offender Reform Act and funded neither.

"We've come off four years of really bad budgets," Senate President John Valentine said, noting that lawmakers are "gun-shy" about increasing the size of government. "We felt like it was more important to be cautious."

But Johnnie Janes, with the Utah Veterans Advisory Council, says legislative gamesmanship overwhelmed statesmanship. "The veterans are the ones who lose out," Janes said.

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Tribune reporters Melinda Hill and Steve Gehrke contributed to this story.