House members, whose concerns about the governor's plan stalled action on it during the final minutes of the 2006 Legislature, said there's no reason to delay action on a tax cut since $70 million has already been set aside in the upcoming budget.

"If we don't do anything, we're going to intentionally create a $70 million surplus," said Rep. Jim Ferrin, R-Orem. "I think we ought to lead out. We need to send a message to the governor that now is the time to take that $70 million and keep it in the people's pockets."

Most House Republicans agreed, with 49 — more than enough to pass a bill — saying they wanted rates reduced. Only about half as many said they favored or could also support the governor's plan.

Majority Whip Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, suggested the governor's plan might have been defeated in a special session. "I think the $35 million thing, the error, was convenient," Urquhart said, "because he didn't have the votes in the House."

As proposed, the plan calls for changes to the state's income tax to take effect Jan. 1, the beginning of the tax year. If there isn't a special session before the 2007 Legislature begins in mid-January, any changes would have to be delayed for another year.

Senate Republicans, who met behind closed doors, did not discuss taxes, Valentine said. Instead, they voted to ask the governor to bring them back next month to deal with a technical problem with the budget that could hold up some $290 million in road funds.

Both caucuses heard from officials at the Utah Department of Transportation that if the correction isn't made quickly, they won't have time to do planned construction projects this summer, including passing lanes on U.S. 6, the accident-prone stretch of road in Spanish Fork Canyon.

Valentine said he believes his caucus is "still interested" in a tax cut, even if they didn't talk about it Wednesday. The House proposal, he said, might be an easier sell at this point than whatever the governor ends up proposing.

"I would bet that the House and Senate are closer on the issue of a tax cut than they would be to the governor," he said.

Another issue that some lawmakers are pushing for on a special session agenda is giving legislative staff access to Tax Commission data — without the names and other identifying information about taxpayers.

Members of the Legislature's Revenue and Taxation Interim Committee talked about the need for better access to the data to prevent a repeat of the error in the fiscal note for the governor's tax reform plan.

"People are very sensitive about income tax," Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, said. "We have to go out to people and explain, especially if you're running for re-election, what happened."

Robert Spendlove, a manager in the governor's Office of Planning and Budget, told the committee it's not clear exactly what went wrong. "We still don't entirely understand," he said.

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