RICHMOND -- A white-hot debate over transportation funding may have sucked much of the oxygen from the 2007 General Assembly session. But when the dust completely settles from 46 days of legislative wrangling, Gov. Tim Kaine will be left with a pile of bills that could have far-reaching impact.

The Republican-run legislature left Richmond on Saturday after completing a session in which they approved a new regulatory scheme for electric utilities, curbed government's power to seize private property, and took new steps to discourage restaurants from allowing smoking. They also amended the state's two-year budget with little controversy.

"They call this the 'short session,' but judging from the impressive list of legislation approved, there was nothing short about our accomplishments," boasted House of Delegates Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford County, after the legislature adjourned Saturday having passed 958 bills.

Lawmakers will return to the Capitol on April 4 to act on legislation that Kaine amends or vetoes, then gear up for the fall elections in which all 140 General Assembly seats will be up for grabs.

Kaine said he will overhaul the multifaceted transportation bill that barely cleared the state Senate on Saturday. The governor outlined numerous objections to the bill, including a provision to retire $2.5 billion in debt with revenue that also goes to education, public safety and human services programs. What Kaine does to the bill -- and how lawmakers respond to the changes -- could go a long way toward setting the agenda for the fall campaigns.

Kaine said Saturday that "a number of bills" will undergo substantive changes before the General Assembly returns for the veto session. Kaine cited electric utility regulation, eminent domain and smoking restrictions as three examples of bills that will get close scrutiny from his office.

Re-regulating utilities

Lawmakers passed a complex, 56-page bill restoring state regulation of electric utilities, despite objections from some consumer advocates and environmentalists who argued that the legislation tilts too heavily toward the interests of major power companies.

The House and Senate bills would end the state's gradual deregulation of utilities and allow regulators to adjust rates every two years. But the proposed "hybrid" regulatory scheme also allows power companies the chance to earn profits roughly equal to those of "peer group" utilities in the Southeast. Virginia utility companies consider that essential to attracting capital for future plant construction.

"We'll work with the governor's lawyers and go through the bill with a fine-tooth comb to make any changes to secure additional consumer protections," said Attorney General Bob McDonnell, whose office played a key negotiating role on the bill.

Limits to eminent domain

The House and Senate also passed long-awaited legislation to limit government's power to take private property by invoking eminent domain. Lawmakers have been wrestling with the issue since a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed a Connecticut city to seize a homeowner's property for a private development project.

Legislation passed Saturday defines "public uses" under which government can take private property. But some city governments worry that the law is too restrictive and will hamper efforts to revitalize blighted urban areas.

McDonnell hailed the eminent domain legislation as "a victory for liberty."

"The idea that government could take a citizen's home to benefit private parties, or to increase taxes, is antithetical to the principles our nation was founded upon," McDonnell said.

House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, cited eminent domain and transportation as "the two biggies" accomplished during the session.

Changes to smoking bill

Griffith made headlines of his own by winning passage of a bill prohibiting restaurants from allowing smoking unless they post conspicuous "smoking permitted" signs at their entrances. Griffith fashioned his bill, which also removes a requirement that restaurants maintain a no-smoking section, as an alternative to a broad indoor smoking ban

favored by Sen. Brandon Bell, R-Roanoke County.

Bell got his bill passed by the Senate for a second straight year, but a House committee killed it. He later asked the Senate to pass Griffith's bill, hoping Kaine will amend it to include tougher restrictions.

"I think that's going to be more than just a technical one," Kaine said of the changes he may make to Griffith's bill.

Payday lending survives

Kaine lamented the demise of legislation that would have imposed new regulations on payday lending. An aggressive lobbying effort by the cash advance industry beat back efforts to impose an interest rate cap on two-week loans of up to $500. House and Senate negotiators decided not to send a less restrictive bill to the governor, who has harshly criticized a 2002 law that opened the door to payday lenders in Virginia. Kaine predicted the issue will surface again next year.

"That tells me something, that they would rather pull the bill than face a public floor vote about amendments that I would send down," Kaine said.

Cockfighting bill spiked

Another bill that drew aggressive lobbying was a measure to make cockfighting for money a felony. Legislative staff members said they received lots of e-mail and phone calls opposing the measure. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Roscoe Reynolds, D-Henry County, said he filed it because North Carolina and Maryland had made cockfighting a felony, driving more cockfighters, along with a number of related crimes, into Virginia.

Debate on the measure came shortly after a Mecklenburg County raid that yielded 140 fighting birds, boxes of knives and razor-sharp spurs, seven suspected gang members, 22 illegal immigrants and an average of nearly $1,000 in cash on each spectator.

After the bill was passed by the Senate, however, it died in a House committee.

GOP factions get along

Saturday's adjournment marked the first time in four years that the General Assembly completed all of its work -- including the budget -- on schedule. Republican legislators acknowledged that meltdowns over transportation, the budget or other issues could hurt them at the polls this fall, as Democrats seek to cut into their majorities.

Griffith said Republican leaders helped the party's cause by mending a strained relationship between GOP factions in the House and Senate that have butted heads in recent years.

"It doesn't mean we're going to agree all the time," Griffith said. "I think we figured out a model by which we can sit down and work things out."