Gov. Tim Kaine on Monday celebrated Senate passage of legislation that would create a bipartisan commission to help draw legislative district boundaries, but he won't get to sign the bill unless he changes some minds in the House of Delegates.

Kaine hailed the Senate's 39-0 vote for Senate Bill 926, which would establish a seven-member temporary commission to begin the once-a-decade process of drawing of General Assembly and congressional district boundaries. The next redistricting will occur in 2011, when lawmakers reapportion districts to account for population shifts.

Under the bill sponsored by Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, the commission would prepare redistricting plans to be considered by the General Assembly. While lawmakers still would have the final say over the district maps, supporters say the commission's involvement could remove the politics from a process that traditionally has been intensely partisan.

Kaine said this is a critical year to consider the bill because all 100 House of Delegates seats and the governor's office are up for election this year. Democrats already control the Senate and could gain a majority in the House by picking up six seats.

"There are three relevant actors in redistricting -- the governor, the House of Delegates and the Senate," Kaine said. "If we wait until after the 2009 elections, everybody will know the setup, and somebody will have at least two of the three pieces and then there will not be a motive, frankly, to come together around redistricting reform."

Kaine was joined by Deeds and senators from both parties, as well as House Democrats. But no House Republicans were at the news conference. A House subcommittee last month voted along party lines to defeat a bill similar to Deeds' and another measure championed by Kaine that would expand early voting opportunities in the state.

Kaine said he hopes subcommittee members might feel "embarrassed" about defeating the bills last month in a 7 a.m. subcommittee meeting. And the unanimous support in the Senate also should send a message to the House, he said.

"I think people ought to be reading the tea leaves," Kaine said.

-- Michael Sluss

Senate panel kills legislation to allow school districts to set own calendars

A bill to give Virginia school boards the ability to set their own school calendar -- including the option of starting before Labor Day -- was killed by a Senate panel Monday.

Senate Bill 1266, sponsored by Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Fauquier County, would have eliminated a statute -- called the "King's Dominion Law" because it's defended by summertime tourist attractions that rely on teenage employees -- that requires schools to open after Labor Day unless they get a waiver.

-- Mason Adams

Children will be cared for if state closes mental health facilities, official says

State officials told lawmakers Monday that private mental health care providers will be able to handle children and adolescents displaced by the proposed closing of state facilities in Western Virginia.

In December, Gov. Tim Kaine proposed closing a mental health facility for children and adolescents in Staunton, an adolescent unit at the Southwestern Virginia Mental Health Institute in Marion and a training center for the mentally disabled in Chesapeake as part of a plan to close a $2.9 billion state budget shortfall.

Some mental health advocates worry whether the state has an adequate plan for those who would be displaced, particularly those with behavioral issues or criminal records.

James Reinhard, commissioner for the Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, told the House Appropriations Committee that private providers have stepped up and said they would be able to handle the load -- even those with no health insurance or who were referred by the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Reinhard said the state would obtain legal paperwork from each of the providers to make sure none of the children or adolescents "fall through the cracks," and he said the Marion unit may close as early as March.

Lawmakers were skeptical, however, particularly after hearing last month from the plan's critics, who expressed concerns that included the effect of likely cuts in Medicaid reimbursements and long drives for parents of patients in far Southwest Virginia.

-- Mason Adams