RICHMOND -- The General Assembly passed a new state budget and brought an overdue end to its regular legislative session Thursday night, but lawmakers must return to the Capitol next month to confront significant unfinished business.

After passing a two-year, $77 billion spending plan and a separate bill to balance the current budget and adjourning, lawmakers formally began a special session to consider competing bond packages for college and state building projects.

Lawmakers will act on the bond package when they return to the Capitol on April 23 to consider bills amended and vetoed by Gov. Tim Kaine. They also will try to fill more than 30 judicial vacancies that have been stalled because of legislative feuding.

Kaine also indicated he will call a separate special session to deal with transportation funding, an issue triggered by a Virginia Supreme Court ruling that invalidated regional taxing authorities in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. House Republicans merely want to fix the regional plans, while Kaine and Democrats also want new revenue for highway maintenance.

"We've got more work to do and after a little bit of a break, we'll get back to it," Kaine said before the Senate and House of Delegates began afternoon floor sessions that dragged into the evening.

Lawmakers passed the budget bills five days after they were supposed to finish their work. Sluggish revenue growth forced the divided legislature to close a $980 million shortfall in the budget that expires June 30, and trim $1 billion from the budget plan Kaine submitted in December.

The compromise budget plan (House Bill 30) contains new spending for education, mental health changes and salary increases for state workers and public school teachers. It also includes some new funding to expand pre-kindergarten for children in low-income families, but less than half of what Kaine had sought for his signature initiative.

"For a tight revenue budget, a lot of significant policy," said Kaine, who had some high-profile pieces of his legislative agenda thwarted by lawmakers this year.

Del. Lacey Putney, I-Bedford, said demands for new spending were tempered by mushrooming revenue shortfalls.

"Considering the economic circumstances, the tremendous decline in general fund revenue, I feel this is a good, solid, balanced budget for the citizens of Virginia," said Putney, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.

The Republican-controlled House passed the budget bills unanimously with no debate, though a modest dissent was made by Del. Anne Crockett-Stark, R-Wytheville. Crockett-Stark said she was disappointed the budget includes no money for teacher pay raises in the fiscal year that begins July 1, despite the fact that the original House proposal included a raise.

"I believe it will truly hurt the teachers, especially in my area," said Crockett-Stark, a retired teacher.

The budget bills were more contentious in the Democrat-controlled Senate, which has been a hotbed of partisan friction all winter. Fourteen Republicans voted against the bills, including Republicans Ralph Smith of Botetourt County and Steve Newman of Lynchburg. Two senior Republicans who were part of the Senate's budget negotiating team -- William Wampler of Bristol and Walter Stosch of Henrico County -- also voted against the measures.

Wampler raised concerns about the accuracy of the revenue projections in the budget and about reducing inflation adjustments for hospitals and nursing homes.

"I think we're going to find some more turbulent and troubled times ahead of us before we come out of the revenue problem," Wampler said.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Colgan, D-Manassas, acknowledged that budget negotiations were "hard fought."

"I can remember when it took longer, but never when we worked harder," Colgan said.

Lawmakers have more work ahead of them. Kaine was confident Wednesday that House and Senate negotiators would reach a quick compromise on a bond package to finance college and state construction projects. Competing House and Senate bills include $59 million for a Roanoke medical school facility planned by Virginia Tech and Carilion Clinic.

Kaine said negotiators are more divided on technical issues than the merits of the projects in the two bills.

"Both sides have said, 'We're going to pass this; we want to make it happen,' " Kaine said. "It's just a matter of working out some final technical details."