Former Republican Rep. Dave Bishop remembers sitting in the office of then-House Speaker Steve Sviggum, trying to calm him down. Sviggum was fuming, as Bishop recalls, because he had just been voted down on an issue by the executive board, a small group of GOP representatives that serve as caucus advisers to the speaker of the House of Representatives.

A bill that would allow the production of industrial hemp in Minnesota appears to have lost momentum in the House, where it initially got off to a fast start. The bill has stalled in committee and hasn't made it into agriculture budget bills.

Although the issue of medical marijuana seems dead for the duration of Session 2011, one related issue is making its way through the legislative machinery. Industrial hemp is gaining momentum at the Capitol, even though a proposal on the subject appears destined for trouble in public safety committees.

Rep. Bob Gunther doesn't want the Republican rural caucus he helped form this session to be seen as adversarial to suburban and metro legislators. In his view, the bicameral caucus' main purpose is to educate the large number of rural GOP members of the House and Senate, many of them freshmen, on issues of special concern to outstate members.

As expected, rural legislators joined hands this week to form separate caucus to meet throughout the session. Former GOP Minority Leader, Sen. Dave Senjem, announced his intentions to form the caucus with Rep. Bob Gunther last fall.

On the first day of the legislative session on Tuesday, many of the Senate's new Republican committee administrators were still receiving the keys to their offices and waiting for their phones to be set up. But for the most part, the top committee staffers who will help Senate Republicans govern in the majority for the first time since 1972 are hardly strangers to the Capitol.

The House Republican Caucus has hired a raft of new committee administrators who will try to bring order to the chaos of the legislative process as the new majority takes office. Their ranks include veteran caucus staffers as well as political refugees from the administration of outgoing GOP Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

There were few surprises when the Minnesota House GOP released committee rosters last week. Legislators, Republican and Democrat alike, landed in spots where they've sat before, or - in the case of new lawmakers - where they have accrued relevant experience in their professional and personal lives.

With his inauguration less than two weeks away, Gov.-elect Mark Dayton has announced two more state agency commissioners, and they are both familiar figures at the Capitol. Dave Frederickson will head the Department of Agriculture, and Ken Peterson has gotten the nod to lead the Department of Labor and Industry.

The House GOP has filled out its leadership ranks by naming a majority whip and four assistant majority leaders.