After adjourning in the wee hours of Thursday morning, the Minnesota House of Representatives plunged ahead with the bittersweet biennial ritual of retirement speeches from departing members.

At least three prospective Republican candidates for the Minnesota Senate crowded a gathering of activists in the newly drawn Senate District 39 over the weekend.

Fallout has been almost constant since release of the state's redistricting maps last week, and over the weekend a few more incumbent-on-incumbent match-ups became clear, some House members switched to run in open Senate seats and new candidates emerged to take their place.

Gov. Mark Dayton’s administration and a host of rural economic development interests are hoping to boost the amount of renewable energy produced by farmers, homeowners and assorted small businesses. But that goal is running into a controversy over the rate at which those producers are paid for the power they generate, and just how much power they can sell to utilities.

Members of the Capitol lobbying corps could have been excused for thinking they were in the wrong building at the start of the 2011 legislative session. A new administration and 60 new legislators took office in St. Paul, and a new complement of Republican leaders and chairs took the place of DFLers in both legislative chambers. The Capitol building itself was just about the only thing that resembled the state of affairs from the prior year.

The agenda for Tuesday's gathering of the House Civil Law Committee initially included a bill mandating that competitive bidding be utilized in awarding contracts for the state's managed care programs. It also would require that the state regularly audit such programs and that they utilize Generally Accepted Accounting Principals in maintaining their books.

Rep. Torrey Westrom began Tuesday's meeting of the House Civil Law Committee with an unusual admonition. He asked audience members to refrain from booing, clapping or sighing during testimony. Westrom also noted that security officers would be stopping by to monitor the hearing room in the State Office Building.

"Interlocutory appeal" is not exactly the most glamorous issue on which to focus at the start of a legislative career. But that's the arcane subject of Rep. Doug Wardlow's first bill introduction during his rookie term at the Capitol.

House and Senate Republicans announced a slate of legislators to chair committees before taking off for a fly around of the state.

When members of the new House Republican majority met last weekend to pick their top two leaders, they selected a slate dominated by the party's suburban strongholds: Speaker-designate Kurt Zellers of Maple Grove and soon-to-be Majority Leader Matt Dean of Dellwood.