Ferriday&8212; Before he begins to tackle the major issues in District 5, newly-elected state Rep. Andy Anders plans to do his homework.

At 10 a.m., Friday, Louisiana Speaker of the House Joel Salter will swear in Anders in Baton Rouge.

One of Anders&8217; first priorities is Act 12, a new piece of Louisiana legislation passed after hurricanes Katrina and Rita that requires specially certified inspectors to approve building residential and commercial property, which would raise the cost of building.

&8220;I think right now that&8217;s the biggest issue with police juries and other municipalities in Louisiana,&8221; Anders said. &8220;It was meant to protect the southern part of the state, which was the most affected, but it has been pushed on the central and northern parts, so I&8217;m going to address it first.&8221;

Anders said the first step in addressing Act 12 would be to meet with the 55 other state representatives and work with them to come up with a resolution.

Anders said he has already met with five representatives by phone and he knows three personally.

&8220;Basically, my goal is to meet everybody, figure out what they think about the issue and try and get this thing resolved,&8221; Anders said.

Anders said he also plans to meet with former representative Bryant Hammett to find out what issues were initially in the pipeline and continue to work on them.

&8220;I&8217;m also meeting with the speaker of the house to see what sort of committees I can serve on,&8221; Anders said.

Anders said he would have a new office established in Vidalia at 200 Advocate Row to better serve the people in Concordia Parish.

For now, Anders said, he would continue to work as a sales representative at Ferriday Farm Equipment, farm his hay and cattle and run his quail hunting operation.