The legislation is intended to improve oversight and accountability of a mental health system that came under fire after a mentally disturbed student killed 32 people and himself at Virginia Tech on April 16. The General Assembly last month budgeted $42 million to expand community-based mental health treatment across the state.

"It has been a difficult year, but it has been a year where people haven't shrinked from trying to learn and improve," Kaine said as lawmakers and the parent of a student wounded in the shootings looked on.

Killer Seung-Hui Cho had been ruled a danger to himself during a court commitment hearing in 2005 and was ordered to receive outpatient mental health care - but he never got it.

The legislation relaxes the standard for involuntary commitment to a mental health facility. Under current law, a person proven to be an "imminent danger" to himself or others can be forced into treatment. The legislation changes that standard to a "substantial likelihood" that the person will cause physical harm to himself or others.

The bills also allow better sharing of mental health records, extend the time a person can be detained for observation, and require representatives of local community services boards to participate in commitment hearings.

Universities also will be required to develop emergency management plans and establish threat-assessment teams under the legislation.

Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin was shot four times by Cho but survived, said the bills strike a good balance between protecting people's privacy while ensuring adequate protections.

"It's a terrible shame that it took something as terrible as Virginia Tech and the incident there to bring to light so many inadequacies in the mental health system," Goddard said. "I'm sure many people were crying out about these for a long time, and it didn't get the spotlight that it deserved."

Kaine acknowledged that no law can totally eliminate the possibility of someone like Cho again falling through the cracks of the mental health system. But he said this legislation will dramatically reduce that risk.

Lawmakers will monitor how the changes are implemented and will study whether additional steps need to be taken, Kaine said.

"This is not the end of what we need to do," he said.

The state has been hoping to stave off lawsuits over the shootings by trying to negotiate a settlement with injured victims and families of the deceased. Under a proposal presented by the state last month, representatives of each of the 32 killed would receive $100,000, with another $800,000 available to the two dozen injured victims.

Kaine declined to speculate on when a deal might be reached or comment on the status of negotiations, saying only that talks had been "very productive."

"You're trying to be sensitive to family members and others, and many of them want to be able to have a dialogue of that kind and trade ideas back and forth and do it in a way that respects some degree of confidentiality," Kaine said. "At some point if there is an agreement, it will be disclosed pursuant to the current practice and law of the commonwealth."