• Higher education. Higher ed will receive a nice funding bump in the form of a $21.7 million fund to "retain key faculty and staff," although the overall pay increases came in lower than Walker proposed and what Utah System of Higher Education officials want.

"It's tied to every person who may leave this state who is making a real contribution to economic development," UHSE commissioner Rich Kendell said. "We'd like to have a counter offer to them before they leave this state and take their grants with them."

• Medicaid. Patients will once again have vision and dental care available to them, as Huntsman restored $5 million in ongoing funds to the program. Since the programs were cut two years ago, they have been a focus of ire for disability advocates and resulted in numerous protests from recipients.

"It's a major improvement and a good way to start out in this new tenure," said Dr. David Sundwall, the state's newly appointed Health Department director.

• Corrections. Another one of Huntsman's campaign issues was the relocation of the Utah State Prison in Draper, and in his budget he requests $150,000 to conduct a feasibility study for that possible move. He would also like to fund a new 288-bed addition to the Central Utah Correctional Facility and to allocate $6.3 million to cover the costs of the first phase of the Drug Offender Reform Act. Known as DORA, the program aims to reduce the prison population by diverting first-time, nonviolent offenders to drug treatment instead of incarceration.

• Transportation. Clogged roads along the Wasatch Front will probably be improved because of $33 million in one-time funds provided to the Utah Department of Transportation. While no specific projects have been identified, UDOT executive director John Njord said they would look at where "we can get the most bang for our buck," which would most likely be I-15 in Salt Lake and Utah counties, as well as I-80 in Salt Lake County.

Initial volley

While Huntsman said the new administration "only had a week and a half to prepare a budget, and we've done it to the best of our ability," he said he did meet with legislative leadership prior to releasing the budget. Thanks to those meetings, he felt confident about its chances, although he knew that it would be the first in a string of negotiations between the two branches of government.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said lawmakers will have to weigh the difference between Walker's focus on education in her budget and Huntsman's emphasis on economic development.