RICHMOND -- Both houses of the General Assembly are moving forward with sweeping mental health reform legislation, encountering little opposition as they try to fix long-neglected problems exposed by the Virginia Tech shootings.

A House of Delegates committee endorsed legislation Friday that would broaden the standard authorities use to mandate treatment for people with potentially dangerous illnesses. The House Courts of Justice Committee will vote Monday on a comprehensive bill that reforms mandatory outpatient treatment laws and clarifies requirements for monitoring patients getting court-ordered treatment.

A Senate subcommittee worked into the evening Friday on similar legislation, which should go to the Senate Courts of Justice Committee on Monday.

Mental health reform has been identified as a top priority by Gov. Tim Kaine and lawmakers in both parties, and bipartisan support appears to exist for a broad array of bills aimed at fixing shortcomings in the state's overburdened, underfunded system.

The bills largely reflect recommendations made by a state Supreme Court commission on mental health commitment law and by a gubernatorial panel that investigated the Tech shootings.

"We've really revamped the whole involuntary commitment process," said Del. William Fralin, R-Roanoke, who served on a House subcommittee that fine-tuned legislation dealing with the commitment process.

Kaine and lawmakers want to fix gaps in the system that may have contributed to Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho's failure to get court-ordered mental health treatment. Cho had been ordered to receive outpatient treatment in 2005 after a Montgomery County special justice determined him to be an "imminent danger." But no state authority monitored Cho to make sure he complied with the order.

Comprehensive bills moving through both houses could fix such problems. The bills cover every step of the commitment process, from the initial examination of the patient to the roles that courts and local community services boards play in ensuring compliance with treatment orders.

Lawmakers also are advancing bills to change Virginia's criteria for involuntary commitment of a mentally ill patient from the current standard of "imminent danger" to "substantial likelihood" of causing harm to self or others. The House Courts of Justice Committee endorsed its version of the bill (HB 559) Friday.

Some mental health advocates have raised concerns that the relaxed standard will force more people with mental illnesses into coerced treatment, making recovery more difficult. They also have questioned whether state funding will be sufficient to improve outpatient care.

But Mira Signer, the executive director of the Virginia office of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said lawmakers so far have been attentive to input from those with mental health needs. Lawmakers appear to be trying to strike a balance between addressing public safety needs and preserving the rights of people with mental illnesses.

"It requires a very careful weighing and conscientious decision-making, and it seems like that's happening," Signer said. "It seems like the voices of consumers and family members have been heard."