Utah Valley has benefitted from having lawmakers in powerful positions for several years. This year will be different only in that money coming this way is actually expected instead of wrangled.

Transportation

After years of watching the Salt Lake Valley soak up transportation funding for Interstate 15, money will start trickling down for Utah Valley's own $3 billion upgrade.

UVSC/UVU

Last year, Utah Valley State College asked for $10 million to transition to Utah Valley University. It got $8 million of that, and isn't expecting resistance to the other $2 million this year.

Where UVSC might come up short is in faculty compensation. There's only so much money to go around, Valentine said, and first on the list is public education.

"We're a reflection of what the people say to us," he said. "We're trying to listen to our constituents, and they're saying put it into public schools."

County jails

For years, jails and lawmakers have been warring over how much money is received for housing state prisoners. Some of those inmates are mandated on the jails by judges, and sheriffs say receiving less than half the funding to pay for them creates a burden the state chooses to ignore. The other side argues that if someone commits a crime -- felony or not -- in a particular county, housing them there only makes sense.

While the senate president doesn't carry bills, Valentine said he plans to personally weigh in to straighten the mess out.

Water

The state's use-it-or-lose-it water policy has been a bane to cities for years, and especially since the State Engineer recently started a crackdown on unused shares.

Cities say they need to hold onto the rights they're not using to handle the ongoing population boom. A bill will be debated that would allow cities to hold onto water for "reasonable" future growth.