Smaller steps.

Eight weeks into a special session, that appears to be the General Assembly’s approach in dealing with issues, including police reform.

For example, the legislature sidelined a bill that would have made it easier to sue police officers and local communities for an officer’s alleged use of force.

And according to the online list of legislation that has passed both the House of Delegates and the state Senate, the chambers have not yet given final approval to a bill that would require trained mental health professionals to be dispatched to deal with crises involving the mentally ill and potentially reduce the role of police in such episodes.

However, the two chambers are ushering in change. This week, the General Assembly approved bills to ban no-knock warrants that allow entry into a home or business without any notification; require every locality with a police department to establish a civilian oversight panel to deal with use of force complaints; and to ban police departments from acquiring military equipment.

Some of the reform legislation that could prove significant down the road is headed to the governor’s desk to be signed into law.

One bill that has cleared both the House and Senate grants the state attorney general the same authority as the U.S. Justice Department to initiate pattern- and-practice investigations of racial bias and officer use of force in local police departments.

Attorney General Mark R. Herring sought the authority after watching the Justice Department essentially end such probes.

The General Assembly also approved a bill that requires the state Department of Criminal Justice Services to create uniform standards for police training and conduct, enable the department’s oversight board to de-certify officers who are found to have violated the standards and create a database to prevent those de-certified by one department from jumping to another department.

Bills also passed both houses that ban officers from using chokeholds to restrain people being arrested unless it is to protect the arresting officer’s life; another imposes a duty on police officers to report fellow officers who engage in misconduct.

Sheriffs and police chiefs also will be required to report the names of officers who resign or are fired for misconduct, along with those who receive three or more civilian complaints of misconduct.

Another bill both houses passed requires increased scrutiny and assessment of the records of police officers who are seeking employment with another department.

On the eviction front, a push to halt evictions during the pandemic died.

Instead, the legislature passed a bill allowing renters to gain an automatic 60-day delay in eviction proceedings and granting property owners facing foreclosure the right to request a 30-day delay.

Also, both houses approved legislation requiring owners and landlords of five or more rental units to offer tenants who in arrears to pay off their past due rent in installments.

Additionally, the House and Senate both followed Gov. Ralph S. Northam’s recommendation and made June 19 a paid state holiday. Also known as Juneteenth, the holiday commemorates the day in 1865 when the last enslaved African-Americans learned they were free following the Civil War.

Meanwhile, the special General Assem- bly session continues as lawmakers work to adopt a revised state budget.