BLACKSBURG -- The April shootings at Virginia Tech heightened public awareness of shortcomings in the state's mental health system, but members of the state Senate learned Thursday that fiscal pressures could limit their ability to attack the problem in the upcoming General Assembly session.

The Senate Finance Committee began its annual retreat at Tech nearly seven months to the day after a mentally ill student killed 32 people and himself on the campus. With nearly the entire 40-member Senate present, the committee devoted an afternoon session to discussing mental health reforms that could be proposed in response to the shootings.

Despite significant funding increases over the past decade, the state's mental health system still has gaps that include inadequate outpatient services and a short supply of inpatient psychiatric beds in some communities. The state's commitment process also has come under scrutiny after authorities discovered that Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho never received outpatient treatment ordered by a court in December 2005.

"With the urgency thrust on us by April 16th, we might not have another opportunity to address this," said Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County.

But the lawmakers' sense of urgency was tempered by a budget forecast that will affect their ability to launch new initiatives during the two-year fiscal cycle that begins July 1. Lawmakers face an array of new spending pressures at a time of slowing revenue growth, a problem exacerbated by a nationwide housing slump that has had ripple effects throughout the economy.

"In looking at new initiatives, we're going to have to dampen our expectations," said Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, who also wants to move aggressively on mental health reforms.

Gov. Tim Kaine has cut spending and ordered various cost-saving measures to offset part of a $641 million shortfall in the current budget, which expires June 30. But the problem won't end there, legislative analysts said.

Sluggish revenue growth will not meet demands for mandatory and high-priority spending in the upcoming fiscal year, leaving a gap of as much as $554 million, according to a Senate Finance Committee staff analysis. The state will have about $17.4 billion in general fund revenue in the next fiscal year.

The Senate's shortfall estimate exceeds the $50 million to $150 million estimate released earlier this week by the House Appropriations Committee, which based its analysis on mandatory spending increases. The House estimate assumes that Kaine's budget cuts for this year would be continued. Both panels expect revenue growth to rebound in the second year of the new budget cycle to meet spending demands.

The fiscal challenges will serve as an early test for Senate Democrats, who gained control of the chamber in last week's elections. Senate Minority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax County, said there will be no easy answers.

"You've asked the $64,000 question," Saslaw said, when asked how lawmakers will manage the situation.

Sen. Emmett Hanger, R-Augusta County, said fiscal straits should not deter lawmakers from pursuing mental health reforms.

"I think it's just a matter of us assigning priorities," Hanger said.

Kaine will seek more money for mental health services in the budget he presents to lawmakers next month, Secretary of Health and Human Resources Marilyn Tavenner told the Senate committee. Among other things, the governor will propose initial steps to reduce waiting periods for outpatient services and increase the availability of crisis stabilization beds, Tavenner said.

Virginia spent $717 million on mental health services in the last fiscal year.

But it ranked 33rd nationally in per capita spending on mental health services in the 2005 fiscal year, and 40th in spending on community based services, according to the Finance Committee.

Mira Signer, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness for Virginia, said she hopes lawmakers will respond to growing public attention and take meaningful steps to improve the system.

"Are we really going to spend as much time on mental health next year as we are this year?" Signer said. "Probably not. Now is really the time. The momentum is there."

Senators also got input Thursday from Gerald Massengill, who was chairman of a state panel that investigated the Tech shootings, and from Richard Bonnie, who was chairman of a state Supreme Court commission examining mental health commitment law.

Massengill, a retired Virginia State Police superintendent, said his panel's recommendations on mental health are among the most important in its report.