Tom Okamura, a former lawmaker who was appointed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie to replace Blake Oshiro (who now works for the gov as deputy chief of staff), was officially sworn in by Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald. He was then congratulated by his new colleagues with lei a-plenty.

The gov and the CJ are the only real big names in the House chamber, in contrast to sessions past when former governors and the congressional delegation were often in attendance.

I should note that I am in the House chamber and don’t know what’s going on in the Senate chamber. I’ll try to zip over there at some point, but with opening day activities scaled back in light of the recovering economy, things could be pau pretty quick.