Before North Dakota's new group of state legislators begins holding hearings and voting on bills, the lawmakers need to get their official photos taken - and find out which Capitol desk and parking space they may call their own.

The 2009 Legislature's three-day organizational session, which begins at 1 p.m. Monday, is meant to give lawmakers time for the routine tasks that need doing before Jan. 6, when the session's lawmaking work begins in earnest.

Its highlight arrives at 10 a.m. Wednesday, when Gov. John Hoeven presents his budget recommendations to a joint session of the House and Senate. Lawmakers will use Hoeven's blueprint as a starting point for writing the next two-year budget for the state government.

The session also offers lawmakers training on how to use laptop computers and software, briefings on legislative rules, procedures and ethics, and plenty of time for kibitzing, political gossip and lobbying for plum committee assignments.

Most lawmakers already know the rules and how to use their laptops. Among its 141 members, the new Legislature has only 10 freshmen. But legislative leaders say the three days are needed to get everyone acclimated and comfortable with their committee assignments.

"Nobody's ever completely happy at the end of the organizational session, so it's good to have these three days," said Sen. Bob Stenehjem, R-Bismarck, the Senate majority leader. "Then (legislators) can go home for three weeks, and have Christmas, before we have to get back and buckle down and get to work."

There are choice committee spots available in both the House and Senate.

The jobs of chairman and vice chairman of the Senate's Finance and Taxation Committee are both open. The incumbents, Republicans Herb Urlacher of Taylor and Ben Tollefson of Minot, did not run for re-election.

Three House committee chairmanships are open, for the Human Services, Government and Veterans Affairs and Political Subdivisions committees. There are five vacancies on the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, which has 24 members and is a top choice for most veteran legislators.

Some of the organizational session's work is reminiscent of the first day of school.

A photographer sets up in the Capitol's press studio to take each legislator's official portrait, which is used on the Legislature's Web site and in a guidebook published by the North Dakota Motor Carriers Association.

Lawmakers get parking stickers, the lock combinations to the Capitol's legislative lounges, electronic keys for after-hours building access, and forms for ordering business cards and stationery.

On Monday afternoon, lawmakers will wait through the faintly comical process of picking the desk on the House and Senate floor that each one will use during the session.

Legislators are hustled behind the brass rails that separate the House and Senate chambers from a public viewing area, and then called forward - mostly according to seniority - to claim the work spaces they will use for the next four months.

The arrival of lawmakers, session employees and the people who are interested in what they're doing, from lobbyists to busloads of students, also gives the Capitol a new vibrancy, employees say.

"I think we're all kind of excited to get it going. You kind of get revved up as you get to that point," said Jim Smith, director of the Legislative Council, which is the research arm of the Legislature.

"Once the legislators get to the building, the building's got a different buzz to it," Smith said. "There are just so many more people."