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RICHMOND -- Virginia legislators are considering creating a taxpayer-financed fund that would compensate the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings to try to stave off potential lawsuits.

The informal talks among legislators center around what, if any, responsibility the state should shoulder in financially supporting the more than two dozen injured students and faculty members, as well as the relatives of the 32 victims who were killed during the April 16 shootings.

A state fund could be modeled after the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund, which Congress created in 2001 to disburse $7 billion in taxpayer money to the families of victims of the terrorist attacks in exchange for a waiver of their right to sue.

"I don't know an appropriate dollar figure, but as we move forward, one of my concerns would be that for Virginia Tech to move forward and for this community to move forward and put the trauma of April 16 behind us, to be involved in multiple legal actions would be very, very hard on the community and the university," said Del. Dave Nutter, R-Christiansburg, who represents Blacksburg and works for Virginia Tech.

Gov. Tim Kaine, who met with the relatives of injured students this weekend, said he is reserving judgment on whether to support a taxpayer-financed compensation fund.

The preliminary talks, which Nutter said have involved the attorney general's office, will likely provoke a statewide debate about the financial needs of the victims and their relatives and whether a precedent that was set by the 9/11 fund should apply in Virginia.

Families of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks collected awards averaging $2 million. Payouts for the injured averaged almost $400,000 each.

Last week, Vienna, Va., attorney Thomas Fadoul, who says he represents several of the victims' families, said the relatives of those killed by Seung-Hui Cho "deserve at least what the 9/11 people got."

Fadoul's comments upset some of the family members, who say they are not seeking a payout from the state. But others, who think the university was negligent in its response to the shootings, have indicated that they expect the state to pay for their loss.

"I think one of the questions that faces the Virginia government is, should they spend as much as 50 or 100 million dollars as compensation for the people who died, or would those funds be better used to educate those who remain?" asked Joshua Gotbaum, who was executive director of the September 11th Fund, which distributed $550 million in private donations to the victims of the terrorist attacks and their relatives.

The administrator of the $7 million Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund, which Virginia Tech created to receive donations from the public in the days after the shootings, has drawn up recommendations to pay $150,000 to each of the families of those killed at Virginia Tech. Injured students could receive between $25,000 and $75,000.

Last week, more than a dozen family members of slain students issued a joint statement saying, "The university and the commonwealth will need to address the ongoing needs of victims and families, which will exceed the resources of the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund."

Andrew Goddard, whose son Colin survived after being shot four times in Norris Hall, said, "We would like to see Virginia Tech step up in some way to recognize the suffering.

"My son is carrying metal in his body for the rest of his life. He has a rod in his leg and is carrying around three of the four bullets," Goddard said. "A lot of people don't know the full extent of their injuries. ... I don't want to be fighting something [in court] for five years."

Several legislators said discussions about a state fund to supplement the Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund have been occurring for weeks.

"A number of people feel we ought to set up a trust fund for the victims because it is such a terrible disaster in our history," said Sen. Ken Stolle, R-Virginia Beach. "We want to do whatever is necessary to help them get on with their lives."

But Stolle said the debate should focus on compassion for the victims, not on a way for the state to avoid litigation.

The federal Sept. 11 fund was created to protect the financially ailing airline industry from lawsuits from victims and their families.

Even if the Virginia Tech victims allege the university was at fault for Cho's rampage, it would be difficult for them to sue the state of Virginia, which has a legal protection known as sovereign immunity.

Virginia Solicitor General William Thro said the concept dates to Virginia's British roots and the notion that "kings and governments can do no wrong and cannot be sued for damages."

In recent decades, the General Assembly and Congress have created a few exceptions to the immunity, such as lawsuits that stem from civil rights violations or medical malpractice claims against state hospitals.

In the 1970s, the General Assembly also waived the state's immunity for tort claims but capped potential damages at $100,000.

After the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in Colorado, the parents of the victims filed several lawsuits against the police and school district. But a federal judge threw most of them out because of that state's immunity laws.

Lawsuits against the parents of the two Columbine shooters and their accomplices were settled out of court.

In Virginia, Thro said, there are no caps on awards if the state attorney general decides to settle a lawsuit out of court.

Former Attorney General Jerry Kilgore said Virginia should avoid a legal fight with the Virginia Tech victims. "You don't want a court battle, because you don't want to drag the victims' families though this," Kilgore said.

Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, said, "there is a general sense the Virginia victims should be compensated over and above the ordinary."

The creation of the fund could meet steep opposition. Unlike many of the Sept. 11, 2001, victims, most of the students killed at Virginia Tech were not the family breadwinners.

And some legislators and victims' rights advocates question whether the state should be in the business of saying one life is more valuable than another.

Virginia, like most states, has a victims compensation fund that distributes grants to crime victims or their families. But awards in Virginia are capped at $25,000.

"Our view is this is an opportunity to look at what we do for all victims of crime in general," said Mary Lou Leary, executive director of the National Center for the Victims of Crime.