STATE CAPITOL - For at least a few hours, Republicans and Democrats alike exchanged well wishes and paused to acknowledge the significance of elected office, with swearing-in ceremonies in both the state Senate and Assembly chambers Monday.

Before the formal swearing in of 24 new Assembly members and 11 new state Senators, family members and friends crowded the chamber floors, while the new and returning politicians made acquaintances with fellows on both sides of the aisle.

There were also a lot of pictures taken, and waves to the galleries above, where more supporters dressed in their Sunday best a day later to watch a new state Legislature take shape.

Some new legislators seemed magnets for attention, such as Assemblywoman Alyson Huber (D-El Dorado Hills), who carried the 10th Assembly District by only a few hundred votes over Republican Jack Sieglock, and Assemblyman Danny Gilmore (R-Hanford), the only Republican to win a Democrat-held Assembly seat this year.

"I'm just incredibly excited with this being my first day," Huber said in a brief press interview. Because her race was in doubt, Huber didn't attend orientation activities for new legislators held earlier this month. "I'm studying the issues and planning to hit the ground running."

In the Assembly chamber and in the capitol halls, there were also plenty of familiar faces who weren't being sworn into office, including Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, U.S. Rep. Howard Berman, former state Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, state GOP chair Ron Nehring, former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley, outgoing Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo and former Assembly members Rusty Areias, Doug LaMalfa and Barbara Matthews.

Statewide constitutional officers Lieutenant Gov. John Garamendi, Secretary of State Debra Bowen, Controller John Chiang and Superintendent of Schools Jack O'Connell also presided over the swearing-in ceremony itself.

The hubbub delayed the start of the Assembly swearing-in ceremony by more than a half an hour. After that was finished, the body unanimously re-elected Assemblywoman Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) as Assembly Speaker.

Bass quickly noted that the newly elected Legislature inherits a state economy in dire shape that requires tough choices to fix.

"But this year all of us - Democrats and Republicans -- will face the challenge of acknowledging our ideology -- acknowledging all those commitments and pledges we made during our campaign," Bass said in her remarks. "We face the challenge of acknowledging this, then taking a real hard objective look at the crisis we face. And then we face the challenge of putting our ideology aside and doing what we need to do for California."

Across the Capitol, newly sworn-in Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) made similar remarks to the chamber, where every newly sworn-in state Senator had previously served in the Assembly.

"People do not expect miracle fixes for these or other challenges, but they do expect us to get going," Steinberg said in remarks distributed by his press office. "They expect us to turn this place around. They expect us to inject a needed shot of adrenaline into state government. They expect us to not fight about the petty things. They expect us to get off to a fast and aggressive start."

In both chambers, some party members will need to cross over for any legislation related to taxes or the state budget to pass, because neither party has a two-thirds majority.

Democrats gained a net of three seats in the state Assembly, winning four districts previously held by Republicans and losing AD-30 to Gilmore. That still leaves them three votes short of a critical two-thirds majority.

In the state Senate, Democrats failed to gain any ground on Republicans and at least temporarily will be in a worse position, with Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) resigning his seat this week to take a spot on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

A special election to fill Ridley-Thomas' seat won't happen until March. Until then, Senate Democrats will also need at least three Republicans to cross over for a two-thirds majority.