House and Senate leaders are speaking now at this morning’s AP Legislative Preview. Said new House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, “Every other person, nearly, in the House of Representatives is new. And there’s a lot of new chairmen. There’s been a lot of shuffling around. We can talk about these issues, but that’s going to shape the legislative session in a major way on the House side.”

Said Bedke, “I’m very encouraged and excited to work with these new people. This is a very accomplished group, broad spectrum, very diverse life experiences. They’re smart, they’re eager to be here and eager to be involved, and there’s some energy that I haven’t noticed before. And I’m looking forward to really incorporating these new people and their ideas into some of these old problems, and we’ll see what comes of it.” He promised “some interesting times.”