County clerks are also counting voter signatures for a referendum that would repeal the state's agreement to provide hotel-room taxes to help build a professional soccer stadium, although even organizers of the stadium repeal admit they probably don't have the 92,000 signatures required.

The 2007 Legislature passed two voucher laws. Should the first bill — the main voucher bill — be certified to the ballot, that bill is stayed until the vote.

Regardless of what happens with the main voucher bill in the Feb. 5 vote, the second bill — like the first — gives parents who send their kids to private schools between $500 and $3,000 in tax credits, said Gay Taylor, legislative general counsel.

The second bill will run through the 2007-2008 school year unless stopped by a court ruling, said Taylor, and then it would be up to the Legislature to decide whether to repeal or amend that law.

It is Taylor's legal opinion that private school vouchers will be given to qualifying students this fall — assuming the State Board of Education plays its role in authorizing the payments.

While Valentine sees consensus among lawmakers to let Huntsman pick the Feb. 5 referendum date, Henry's bill is a different matter. Valentine said there was support for the bill in the Senate during the last session, but less support in the House.

Henry's bill would make certain acts of animal cruelty a third-degree felony. The bill, SB190, failed at the end of the 2007 Legislature after the House amended it with only three minutes left in the session, giving no time for Senate action.

"There should be consensus" on the bill before the special session, or it may well fail, Valentine warned. "I think we could get it (passed) if we go with a felony for the second offense" of animal torture, but tougher language than that may not make it, the president warned.

The sponsor of Henry's bill, Senate Minority Whip Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake, said he's willing to negotiate to get the legislation passed. Still, he questioned the need to give anyone a second chance by waiting until a second offense is committed to consider it a felony crime.

"All this is, is an enhancement. If people torture or are cruel to animals today, it's a misdemeanor," Davis said. Under his bill, the man who put Henry in a 200-degree oven for five minutes and attacked him with a leaf-blower could have been charged with a felony.

Instead, the man responsible for the dog suffering burns and losing an eye was charged with a Class A misdemeanor and served just over four months in jail. Henry's owner has said her former husband was jealous of her pet.

Davis said he has not yet heard from the governor, but is ready to carry the bill again. "I think it will fare well," he said. "The difference with a special session is, No. 1, it's the governor's agenda. And there's no deadline."

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E-mail: bbjr@desnews.com; lisa@desnews.com