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RICHMOND -- A weary and divided General Assembly reached what was supposed to be the end of its 60-day session Saturday with some major business unfinished, forcing lawmakers into overtime for the fourth time in the past five years.

The Senate and House of Delegates have yet to agree on a new state budget, a bond package for building projects at state colleges, and filling 36 judicial vacancies. Another fight over transportation funding also looms.

The two chambers agreed to extend their session until Tuesday in an effort to finish their work.

"I think some people have grown used to it, but I'm frustrated by it," said a tired House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, on Saturday afternoon while sipping a soda in the back of the House chamber.

While some important business remains incomplete, lawmakers have wrapped up work on key issues ranging from mental health reform to new restrictions on payday lenders. And they did it in a new political climate that has Democrats running the Senate and Republicans in charge of the House.

Gov. Tim Kaine worked hard to help Democrats gain a majority in the 2007 elections. But his legislative agenda had mixed success, and some of his priorities sank in a Senate that he had expected to be friendly.

Kaine said Saturday that he expects the new budget to contain funds for many of his priorities, including mental health reforms, expanded pre-kindergarten and targeted health care initiatives. Considering the state's revenue shortfall, Kaine said, "I'm going to count that as a very good year."

But lawmakers thwarted some of the governor's priorities, such as banning smoking in restaurants, allowing localities to give targeted property tax relief to homeowners and requiring criminal background checks for all firearms purchases at gun shows.

Kaine pushed for the gun show legislation in response to the Virginia Tech shootings, and some parents of the shooting victims pressed lawmakers to pass it. But the legislation never got beyond committees in either chamber. Democrats John Edwards of Roanoke and Roscoe Reynolds of Henry County cast key votes to defeat the bill in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.

"I wish that had not become such a hot-button issue," Edwards said.

Edwards played a key role in another policy issue driven by the Tech shootings, co-chairing a Senate subcommittee that crafted sweeping mental health reform legislation. Lawmakers unanimously approved bills that change commitment criteria and improve monitoring of individuals under outpatient treatment orders.

"I thought on a bipartisan basis we came together, and I'm glad," Edwards said. "That was a key issue this session."

Del. William Fralin, R-Roanoke, who served on a similar House subcommittee, said he was "really proud" of the legislation.

"It was a lot of hard work and long nights," Fralin said.

Griffith called the mental health reforms "a huge success."

"For all those people who say all we want to do is come down here and bitch, moan and fight, there's a classic example of why the legislative process still works," Griffith said. "It's an example that comes out of a horrible incident, but it shows that on 85 [percent] to 90 percent of the stuff we do down here, it's not partisan."

Democrats entered the session with a majority in the Senate for the first time in more than a decade, but soon found themselves at odds with a newly unified Republican minority.

"I think it's been a learning year for Democrats," Edwards said. "We've had to adjust to a new Republican party in the Senate, that they're sticking together."

Sen. Steve Newman, R-Lynchburg, said Republicans have a "united caucus" that continues to wield clout in the Senate.

"I think that balance of power is actually pretty good for Virginia," said Newman, chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus.

Tension within the Senate over differences in the budget and procedural issues grew over the course of the session, culminating in a bitter spat over rules that lasted more than an hour Saturday night.

Democrats and Republicans clashed over how the Senate should choose judges, slowing the process to a halt and bringing into question whether the two parties could agree long enough to make even noncontroversial judicial appointments.

Roanoke Valley legislators deadlocked on choosing a replacement for retired General District Court Judge Julian Raney. That stalemate likely will force circuit court judges from the district to make the appointment for a one-year term.

The House had approved a repeal of the state's controversial "abusive driver fees" to take effect as soon as the governor signs it. The Senate reversed itself and also agreed late Saturday to allow the repeal to take effect immediately.

Lawmakers still have fights in front of them before the curtain comes down on the 2008 session. In addition to finishing the budget, they will wage another battle over transportation funding and whether new statewide taxes are needed for highway maintenance.

The Virginia Supreme Court reignited the issue last month when it invalidated the tax-collecting authority of unelected regional transportation boards in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. The regional plans were a key component of a hard-fought compromise on transportation funding last year.

House Republicans merely want to fix the regional plans to comply with the court ruling and say Democrats will hurt the regional proposals by reopening a debate over statewide tax increases for maintenance.

"They can do something for the regions, or they can fight," Griffith said. "That's the bottom line."

Kaine and Democrats want more maintenance revenue, citing rising maintenance costs that are forcing the state to divert funds intended for construction. "If you don't fix maintenance, the regional packages don't help that much," Kaine said.