Gov. Timothy M. Kaine yesterday signed more than two dozen bills that effectively revamp how the state identifies, monitors, treats and adjudicates the mentally ill.

The bill signing in Richmond came a week before the anniversary of the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech massacre, when mentally disturbed student Seung-Hui Cho shot and killed 32 students and faculty members and wounded two dozen others before killing himself.

"There's a lot of emotion I think all of us are feeling," said Kaine, flanked by lawmakers and Andrew Goddard, the father of Tech student Colin Goddard, who survived being shot during the massacre in Blacksburg. "That sense of loss that will never go away."

Kaine said the Tech tragedy put a spotlight on what he called a "significant need" to improve and invest more in mental-health services in the state.

To that end, state lawmakers at the 2008 General Assembly session approved $42 million in additional funding. It primarily will be used to add trained staff to the state's 40 community-services boards -- the frontline mental-health treatment facilities responsible for emergency treatment, outpatient care and case management.

Kaine also signed legislation in two unanimously passed omnibus mental-health packages, sponsored by Del. Phillip A. Hamilton, R-Newport News (House Bill 499) and Sen. Janet D. Howell, D-Fairfax (Senate Bill 246).

"It's a very important day for the commonwealth," Kaine said, crediting lawmakers from both parties and Attorney General Bob McDonnell for their efforts.

The governor also said many of the changes passed this spring would not have happened without the dedicated advocacy of the family members of Virginia Tech victims.

"It's a terrible shame that it took something as terrible as Virginia Tech, the incident, to bring to light so many inadequacies in the mental-health system," Goddard said.

"I'm sure many people have been crying out about these things for a long time, and it didn't get the spotlight it deserved until this thing happened."

Kaine said the state's Joint Commission on Health Care will review the effectiveness of the new laws and continue to study the mental-health issues brought to light in the aftermath of the Tech massacre. Goddard said the public also must be involved.

"While legislation can be changed and everything else can be changed it's up to the public to remain vigilant," he said.

"Cho got to that point over a long period of time, with lots and lots of flags thrown up, and nobody seemed to take notice."
Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or jnolan@timesdispatch.com.