RICHMOND -- With each house of the General Assembly controlled by a different party, Virginia's newly restored Capitol could become a cauldron of conflict during the 60-day legislative session that begins Wednesday.

But with a budget shortfall, a growing demand to improve the state's mental health system, lingering animosity over "abusive driver" fees and other major issues confronting them, lawmakers have ample incentive to choose cooperation over combat.

Democrats will share control of the legislature for the first time in this decade. Election gains gave Gov. Tim Kaine's party a slim majority in the 40-member Senate and improved Kaine's chances of winning support for some of his key priorities, such as a targeted expansion of pre-kindergarten education.

But Republicans remain in charge of the House of Delegates, and GOP leaders from both houses have vowed to fight Kaine's plans to balance the state budget and incorporate new initiatives in the spending plan that will cover the second half of the governor's term.

Kaine said the assembly's new political alignment "will help me hold on to more of the items that I hope to be in the budget."

Not so fast, Republicans say.

"We have a majority in the House, and we're not going to abandon our principles," said House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem.

GOP leaders will fight Kaine's attempt to balance the budget with a $261.1 million withdrawal from the state's "rainy day" reserve fund. Kaine called for spending cuts and other savings measures to close the remainder of a $641 million shortfall.

"It is not a modest withdrawal," said former Senate Republican leader Walter Stosch after Kaine delivered his budget last month. "It is a raid."

Kaine has defended his plan and said the shortfall meets legal criteria for tapping the rainy day fund.

"If we're not going to use the rainy day fund, what do the critics want to do to close the gap in the budget?" said Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County.

Republicans also have attacked the governor's new $78 billion budget for deferring $181 million in transportation funding for one year to free up general-fund revenue for other programs. And they have questioned Kaine's signature plan to add about 7,000 children in low-income families to the state's preschool program, which would cost $56 million over two years.

"There will be major disagreements that may not be able to be resolved," Griffith said.

Those disputes will test the leadership of both parties as they attempt to pass a new spending plan and avoid the kind of stalemates that delayed passage of new budgets in 2004 and 2006. Lawmakers said partisan skirmishing also could affect judicial appointments, a process typically controlled by the majority party but made more difficult in a divided legislature.

Senate chairmanships go to the east, north

Deeds said Senate Democrats will provide "willing partners and a friendly forum for his [Kaine's] initiatives."

But their slim majority won't radically change how the Senate functions, Democrats said.

"There's been a change in that the Democrats are in the majority, but it's not an ideological change," said Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, noting that GOP moderates guided the Senate when Republicans were in charge.

But in a chamber where white males have long called the shots, the partisan power shift has elevated seven women to committee chairmanships. As Deeds observed, "It won't be the good ol' boys club anymore."

Because the chairmanships were assigned based on seniority, no Western Virginia senator received one of the coveted posts. Deeds scoffed at suggestions that rural legislators will lose clout under the arrangement.

"I'm like anybody else; I would like to chair a committee," said Deeds, who has announced plans to run for governor in 2009. "But if we were to suddenly decide to set aside seniority because rural, white legislators are not committee chairs, look at what we would be unleashing."

The Senate will have nine new members, including two from Western Virginia -- Republicans Ralph Smith of Botetourt County and Robert Hurt of Chatham.

Republican Charles Poindexter of Franklin County will join the incoming House class. And Del. Lacey Putney, I-Bedford, beginning his 47th year in the House, will become chairman of the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee.

Mental health reform, fees repeal seem likely

In addition to the budget, lawmakers will renew battles over divisive issues such as payday lending, illegal immigration, gun control and smoking bans in restaurants. But bipartisan consensus is emerging on two high-profile matters -- improving the state's mental health system and scrapping controversial abusive driver fees.

Kaine and lawmakers in both parties have signaled their commitment to reform the state's overburdened mental health system, responding to weaknesses exposed by the April 16 shootings at Virginia Tech. A mentally ill student killed 32 people and himself in the worst campus shooting incident in U.S. history, and authorities later discovered that the gunman had failed to get outpatient treatment ordered by a court 16 months before his rampage.

"It certainly served as a spotlight to reveal the flaws in our mental health system," said House Minority Leader Ward Armstrong, D-Henry County.

Kaine last month called for new spending to address needs for emergency and outpatient care, and proposed policy changes to improve treatment and monitoring of individuals who are at risk of harming themselves or others.

"The legislators, I'm sure, will have some ideas for how to make them better," Kaine said. "That's great. I feel like we will come out of this session with a huge step forward in the provision of these services in an effective way."

Griffith agreed, saying the state has an obligation to better serve the mentally ill and make sure those with potentially dangerous illnesses get treatment.

"It's a core function of government," Griffith said.

First session back in renovated chambers

Lawmakers in both parties have filed bills to abolish the maligned abusive driver fees, the most controversial feature of a transportation funding package approved last year. The fees, levied for offenses such as reckless and drunken driving, generated a backlash because of their severity and because they apply only to licensed Virginia drivers.

Some have defended the intent of the fees and have suggested making changes to address concerns about their fairness. But even Kaine, who included the fees in his own transportation funding proposal, has acknowledged that a satisfactory fix may be elusive.

In a letter to Republican legislators this week, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling urged members to repeal the fees, which were projected to generate up to $65 million annually for highway maintenance.

"While this was the most noble of efforts, it simply has not worked out the way it was intended, and it has become terribly unpopular in the public eye," Bolling wrote.

Del. William Fralin, R-Roanoke, agreed that the fees probably should be scrapped.

"Clearly, the folks have expressed their dissatisfaction with it," said Fralin, a member of the House Transportation Committee. "I think the best thing to do is to repeal it altogether or substantially reduce it."

The upcoming session will be the first held in the state Capitol since 2005, when the historic building was closed for a $104.5 million renovation and expansion project that included immaculate restorations of the House and Senate chambers. The public will have a chance to view floor sessions for the first time in three years. And legislators are eager to return to hallowed surroundings after two sessions in temporary chambers.

"I'm really looking forward to it," said Griffith, about to begin his eighth House term.

"I've never been able to take the oath of office without a chill going up my back."