In the 20 days since the 2005 Legislature ended, Huntsman has methodically picked his way through 370 resolutions and bills, saving some of the most controversial until the end. Tuesday, he signed a "parents' rights" bill that could restrict state intervention to protect children, but vetoed another - the so-called Ritalin bill - which would have blocked school officials from recommending drugs to control students' behavioral problems.

He also agreed to clear the way for a new landfill on school trust lands in Tooele County.

Huntsman's veto tally was the smallest in the past 13 years. He credits lawmakers.

"There was serious business done this session," he said. "I don't think there was a lot in the way of frivolous message bills. There wasn't a lot of wasted time. There wasn't a lot to veto."

While Huntsman split the difference on the two parents' rights bill, he signed other controversial legislation, including a bill that will license midwives and another that will shield South Jordan-based Merit Medical and other companies from liability for medical devices recycled for multiple uses.

He vetoed a mostly technical bill dealing with professional counselors at the request of the sponsors.

After his first legislative session, the Republican governor's actions indicate a reluctance to veto measures forwarded by the GOP-controlled Legislature unless they could negatively impact a lot of people. But he said he felt compelled to sign or veto each bill, rather than staging a symbolic protest by letting legislation go into effect without his signature.

"I had to take a stand on everything," he said.

On Monday and Tuesday, Huntsman and his staff had last-minute meetings and phone calls with the sponsors of bills he vetoed as well as their supporters and detractors, including landfill developer Fraser Bullock and morals crusader Gayle Ruzicka, of the Utah Eagle Forum.

One of the more surprising of the governor's actions Tuesday was his approval of the landfill bill. Huntsman and his staff had expressed concern about the bill even before it passed. Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 gives the proposed landfill near the Great Salt Lake a higher-level license to accept waste from anywhere. Huntsman had feared the approval would earn Utah a label as the "nation's dumping ground," but the landfill's founders signed an agreement last week saying the waste would only come from Utah.

Huntsman and his staff say landfill developers soothed their fears.

Lobbyist Dave Nicponski and his politically connected group stand to make a substantial sum, but Nicponski says, "Everybody's a winner and that's what makes a good business deal."

Backers say the project will mean millions of dollars for the state's school trust fund.

Huntsman had been heavily lobbied not to sign the resolution, even meeting Tuesday morning with Bullock, a former Olympic official, who is working to build a competing landfill on the Goshute Indian Reservation.

Similar last-minute lobbying by Ruzicka could not rescue the Ritalin bill. House Bill 42 would have allowed teachers to discuss with parents students' behavioral problems but not recommend a course of action such as psychotropic drugs or a psychiatric evaluation.

Supporters vowed to bring the legislation back next year.

"He has betrayed the people who elected him and failed to protect children against psychiatric abuse," said Sandra Lucas, who lobbied for the bill as executive director of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights of Utah. "I will not give up until it is a done deal."

The governor, noting his son has attention deficit disorder, said he worried the legislation could "have a chilling effect on communication between parents and teachers." Huntsman said the bill could be tweaked in the future to relieve his concerns.

Huntsman said he felt comfortable signing House Bill 338, which grants parents broad rights to raise their children as they see fit with restrictions on state power to intervene to protect suspected victims of child abuse and neglect.

There are differing legal opinions on the bill's effect, even within the Attorney General's Office.

Assistant Attorney General Alain Balmanno and a national advocacy group for children have argued the legislation could impede a court-ordered overhaul of Utah's child welfare system.

The problem, according to Balmanno, is language that mandates the state use the "least restrictive" means to intervene to protect children.

Balmanno says parents could use that language to challenge the removal of a child from the home, arguing caseworkers went too far.

But Mark May, Child Protection Division Chief, says the Attorney General's Office is officially neutral on the bill.

Depending on how language in the bill is interpreted, the measure could present problems, he said. But that interpretation is unclear.

Senate President John Valentine and House Speaker Greg Curtis predicted there wouldn't be a veto-override session because the Ritalin bill wasn't a slam-dunk in the Legislature and lawmakers agree with the governor's other actions.

Valentine said the small number of vetoes meant that lawmakers and Huntsman cooperated during the session.

"This governor was different," said Valentine. ''It wasn't, 'You do what you can with your power, I'll do what I can with my power.' It was more of a consensus building.''

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Tribune reporters Ronnie Lynn and Kirsten Stewart contributed to this story.

Huntsman's vetoes:

* House Bill 279: This technical bill would change the title of a licensed professional counselor but had unintended consequences.

* House Bill 42: The so-called Ritalin bill would have prohibited teachers from recommending psychotropic drugs or a psychiatric evaluation for a student's behavioral problems. Huntsman said it would hamper teacher-parent communication.

* Senate Bill 3: Three line-item vetoes in this budget bill. Huntsman said he was simply striking out redundant or erroneous spending.