Rep. Joe Straus III, R-San Antonio, is officially the speaker of the Texas House.

Straus was elected by acclamation after six nominating speeches on a day marked by ceremony, crowds of families and friends, and the start of another legislative session. He was sworn in by a fellow San Antonian, Texas Supreme Court Chief Justice Wallace Jefferson, and gave a short speech. He said the Biblical line invoked by Houston and by Lincoln applied here: "A house divided against itself cannot stand." And he ended on a similar note: "Let their be no walls in this House."

The House will do rules within the next two weeks or so. Straus will assign committees, and they'll be off to the races early next month.

The Senate, meantime, made Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, the president pro tempore. That body's expected to organize more quickly, since it has only two new members and no management and staff overhaul in process.

And the Senate revved up an old fight over its two-thirds rule. That body won't take up legislation unless two-thirds of the people in the room agree. Democrats have just enough members to block partisan bills, and some Republicans, led by Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, want to get rid of the rule or lower the requirement to, say, 60 percent. That argument was deferred for now.

Notes from the opening:

Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, on Straus' nomination by a group of eleven Republicans: "I wasn't surprised. I was shocked."

Rep. Jim McReynolds, D-Lufkin, in his nominating speech: "In this 140-day sesion, policy should transcend politics."

Rep. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, in hers: "With the numbers [of Republicans and Democrats] so close, I take comfort in knowing that bills will live or die based on their merit and not on a partisan basis."

Rep. Burt Solomons, R-Carrollton, will oversee changes in the House rules. Among the things in that grab-bag: How many committees the House will have and how many people will be on each of them.

Gov. Rick Perry ended the day with a rhetorical flourish: "The first day of a session is a beautiful thing — it's like a blank canvass. Here's hoping we paint a masterpiece."

One last note: We filed this from the House, on the public wireless system that was put in and activated in the last week. For several years up to now, the House has been one of the few wifi-free zones in the state Capitol, due to "technical problems."