It was a legislative session of vehement debate over divisive issues such as gay rights, gun rights and a pre-emptive repudiation of proposed federal health care mandates.
It saw ready acceptance of millions of dollars in incentives to entice corporations and Hollywood film projects into Virginia, but killed insurance coverage mandates for children's autism treatment.
And all of it was a sideshow.
The 2010 Virginia General Assembly, which adjourns Sunday a day behind schedule, was dominated by a single overriding issue: unprecedented cuts to state spending and core services once thought sacrosanct. It was governmental austerity born of the hardest times since the Great Depression.
"This was almost the perfect storm for a budget that, come July 1, will look nothing like what we've been used to," said Del. S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk and one of a dozen legislators tasked with finding a compromise between rival House and Senate versions.
So dire was the state's fiscal condition that the swarms of lobbying interests who write spending perks and tax breaks into legislation each year knew better than to even ask.
Deep recisions in state support for local public school districts will swell the size of classes, prolong the life of buses from 12 years to 15 and eliminate jobs for non-teaching staff. In some places, it could make Friday night football and high school bands a wistful memory.
"We're going to bleed either way," said Robley S. Jones, chief lobbyist for the Virginia Education Association, which represents 60,000 educators from kindergarten through 12th grade.
But in nearly two weeks of budget negotiations, the deep school reductions the House sought were softened at the insistence of the Senate and the urging of rookie Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, Robley Jones and House and Senate budget negotiators said.
It will be harder for the impoverished and children of the working poor to qualify for health care services, and reimbursements will diminish for the doctors, nursing homes and home care assistants who attend them.
State employees face job losses and possibly unpaid days off. Local governments will have to choose between cutting long-established services, raising taxes to prevent cuts or a blend of both.
And there's no guarantee things won't worsen before they improve. The latest state revenue report for February showed tax collections for that month down nearly 7 percent from February 2009.
The most successful non-budget legislation signaled Virginia is for business lovers. McDonnell's promised jobs package sailed through both chambers with bipartisan backing. It provides incentives to lure big corporations and entrepreneurs with promising startups to Virginia, boosts funding for tourism promotion, and sweetens the deal for movie producers to shoot in the state.
Royalties to the state from offshore oil and gas leases also won passage, as did a bill aimed at developing offshore wind turbines as a natural source of electricity.
The most contentious debates arose over hot-button issues championed by conservatives in a House GOP majority bolstered by last fall's elections.
Republicans pushed one of the most ambitious gun rights agendas in years, introducing more than 30 bills to make it easier to buy or carry firearms.
Legislation passed that allows people to carry concealed firearms into bars, provided they don't drink. The House enacted legislation that would repeal the state's ban on buying more than one handgun per month and allow Virginians to build firearms not regulated by federal law, as long as they never leave the state borders. But in the Senate, those and several other pro-gun measures were detoured to their death in a special Courts subcommittee.
"I think we accomplished a lot this year when it comes to Second Amendment rights, and we'll have to continue to work on it," said Del. Charles W. "Bill" Carrico, R-Grayson and sponsor of some of the gun bills.
Legislators also expanded the death penalty in ways that hadn't been possible under former Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a Democrat, who opposed capital punishment. Virginia has executed more prisoners than any state other than Texas since the U.S Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976.
If McDonnell signs the bills, as expected, those who kill on-duty fire marshals and auxiliary police officers would be eligible for the death penalty.
After McDonnell refused to preserve bans on discrimination against gay state employees in an executive order as two Democratic predecessors had, Democrats unsuccessfully sought several times to write the protection into state law. That provoked stinging and impassioned floor speeches, as did failed efforts by abortion opponents to strip Planned Parenthood of state funding and of revenue from a license plate proclaiming "Trust Women/Respect Choice."
Among the most memorable remarks was Del. Robert G. Marshall's suggestion in a news conference that birth defects could be divine payback upon women who had prior abortions. Marshall insisted he had been misquoted, but claimed research backed up his assertion that abortions led to subsequent births of disabled children.
Parents of autistic children tearfully appealed to lawmakers to compel some types of employee health plans to cover the most effective treatment for the neurological disorder. For the first time, the measure passed easily in the Senate, but twice died before House subcommittees, including once on a tie vote.
Last week, Virginia's General Assembly became the first in the nation to approve legislation that bucks federal health care reforms by banning mandatory health insurance coverage.
Efforts to repeal the state's ban on radar detectors failed. But drivers can drive 70 mph — 5 mph faster than the maximum now — on many stretches of Interstate highways.
