Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said he expects all of the bills to pass that he's asking lawmakers to consider during the special session of the Legislature that begins today.

But one bill, which would provide $4 million toward the expansion of the Salt Palace Convention Center, faces a fight, the governor said Monday, even though the project will fulfill a commitment to a major convention.

"To my mind, this is something that must be done," Huntsman said. His office, along with local government, legislative and community leaders, came up with a proposal to ensure the expansion will be ready for the Outdoor Retailer convention in August as promised.

Some lawmakers are not ready to go along with the plan to offer state help on the $62 million project, especially those who represent areas outside Salt Lake City. Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, has said he is only "lukewarm" to the idea.

Other items on the special session agenda are expected to fare better. Huntsman called lawmakers back into special session to consider what action to take on the federal No Child Left Behind program but came up with a total of 15 items for the agenda.

Among those is the Drug Offender Reform Act, which failed to win support during the regular session of the Legislature that ended March 2. Huntsman and other supporters of the drug treatment program are hoping that lawmakers will approve a pilot program to prove DORA will work in reducing the number of drug-related offenders clogging Utah's prisons.

What started out as a $6 million bill with ongoing funding to set up a statewide program, SB22 has been whittled down to a proposed $1.4 million allocation to start a pilot program in 3rd District Court.

Meet DORA's smaller sister, SARA (Substance Abuse Reform Act), which will provide funding for a pilot program giving special drug treatment to 250 felony drug offenders in what is expected to be a three-year study to determine if early drug treatment does indeed keep drug addicts from turning to crime and eventually prison. SARA is a proposed name for the project.

"This gets our foot in the door, and I think it would be a good test and I fully support it," said Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, who sponsored DORA.

While Buttars said he would have liked to see more funding proposed, bottom line is it is funding to treat 250 drug offenders. "That's 250 beds that will now be empty in the state (prison) system. That saves the state $25,000 a year for each person," he said, adding up to millions of dollars in savings.

However, court officials remain concerned that $1.4 million over three years may not paint a clear picture of what DORA could actually accomplish if implemented statewide.