"The governor's recommendations are just that, they're recommendations," Valentine said.

As for the new governor's plan to kick off tax reform with a change in the formula used to calculate corporate income taxes, Valentine said legislative leaders may not agree with Huntsman that it should be revenue neutral. Instead, they could decide to accept the $8 million to $10 million reduction in revenue — in effect, a tax cut. Both the governor and legislative leaders have decided to wait until next year to deal with proposals to change individual income and sales taxes.

House Minority Leader Ralph Becker, D-Salt Lake, said that he was very pleased to see the restored Medicaid funding and open-space money. For the most part, however, it was the budget he expected to see.

"It isn't a major change from Walker's budget, but he didn't have a lot of time," Becker said. "We're fortunate that we have the revenue . . . so that we can deal with some of these issues."

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Contributing: Amy Joi Bryson, Erin Stewart, Geoffrey Fattah, Stephen Speckman, Jennifer Toomer-Cook, Zack Van Eyck