But Utah lawmakers are not done. Not yet.

A few bills heavily favored by the governor and legislative leaders died because of political gamesmanship and time constraints Wednesday, the constitutionally mandated end of the 45-day session.

Minutes after the midnight deadline, legislators were already angling to get their issues included in a one-day special session slated for April 20. The special session so far has a one-item agenda: to seek more flexibility under President Bush's No Child Left Behind education initiative.

Among the most likely additions are a measure to boost the pay of the governor and other executive officers, a bill that would pave the way for construction of an additional lane on Interstate 15 in Utah County and a resolution to allow the state prison to lease more beds from county jails to handle a growing inmate population.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. alone controls the agenda. He plans to add a few "minor items," but his chief of staff Jason Chaffetz says no bill is a sure thing.

"We are going to take a deep breath and digest what this session produced and what it didn't produce," Chaffetz said Thursday.

House Majority Leader Jeff Alexander would be surprised if Huntsman doesn't put on the agenda his House Bill 288, which would raise the pay for a collection of state officials. The measure would have raised Huntsman's salary to $106,200 - a $4,600 bump he has promised to donate to charity. The biggest raise - $21,890 - would go to Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, whom Huntsman considers grossly underpaid.

HB288's progress was slowed by a series of late-night amendments - including a Senate proposal to give a car for "personal and business use" to Agriculture Commissioner Leonard Blackham, a former senator.

The Senate passed the bill just as the clock struck midnight. The House never had a chance to vote on it.

One bill Republican legislators want to deal with in a special session is House Bill 18, but Huntsman's staff has expressed concerns about the plan that would divert hundreds of millions of dollars to a new transportation fund.

Democratic senators started to filibuster HB18 with just minutes remaining in the session when Senate President John Valentine promised to skip it to allow debate on other bills.

Huntsman and Democrats worry the diverted tax revenue may leave little new money for other budget needs like public education and social services.

But with the bill's failure, $30 million in surplus cash now goes into the Centennial Highway Fund, an account covering a select group of road projects. Legislators wanted the money to go to the Transportation Commission, which has promised to spend any extra funds on building new lanes on I-15 in Utah County.

Valentine, who lives in Orem, plans to petition Huntsman to put HB18 on the agenda, acknowledging a "parochial interest."

Corrections officials also have asked Huntsman for help. Legislative leaders appropriated $4.5 million to allow the prison to lease a total of 350 beds from expanded county jails in Beaver, Millard and Sanpete counties. But House Joint Resolution 18, which would have given corrections officials permission to spend the money, never made it to a Senate vote.

Chaffetz calls this a "housekeeping issue" that Huntsman will consider adding to the special session.

Before focusing on the special session and the bills that failed, Huntsman will turn his attention to the bills awaiting his signature. He has through March 22 to sign or veto bills or allow them to go into law without his signature.

Chaffetz said only one bill "has raised red flags" so far - Senate Concurrent Resolution 2. The resolution would allow for industrial and commercial waste to be disposed of on school trust lands in Tooele County. The proposed landfill would mean more money for public schools, but also would benefit a small group of well-connected lobbyists who are working the deal.

"We are going to take a good hard look at that," Chaffetz said. "We don't want to be known as the nation's dumping ground."

mcanham@sltrib.com

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Tribune Reporter Rebecca Walsh contributed to this article.