CARSON CITY -- Jim Gibbons will be sworn in as governor on New Year's Day because of a legal requirement that he must take the oath of office on the first Monday in January.

At a brief 10 a.m. ceremony, Chief Justice Bill Maupin will give the oath of office to Gibbons, Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki, Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto, Secretary of State Ross Miller, state Treasurer Kate Marshall and state Controller Kim Wallen.

Supreme Court Justices Michael Cherry and Nancy Saitta also will be sworn into office that day.

"There is not going to be a lot of pomp and circumstance," Brent Boynton, Gibbons' communications director, said Friday. "He will raise his hand and say 'I do.' "

Boynton said members of Gibbons' transition team consulted with state Archivist Guy Rocha after realizing that the first Monday in January fell on New Year's Day.

The general assumption had been that Gibbons could have been sworn in with other constitutional officers during the formal 11 a.m. Jan. 2 inauguration ceremonies in front of the Capitol.

But Rocha said the law is specific. Gibbons must be sworn in Jan. 1. Boynton said the swearing-in will be repeated the next day, although it will be a "ceremonial act."

Bill Gang, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, said the law requires the officers and justices to be sworn in the first Monday in January after their election.

Governors can hold their inaugurations on Jan. 1 if they choose, according to Rocha, but records compiled by his office show that only one governor, Jewett Adams, had this inauguration on New Year's Day. That was in 1883.

Bob List was sworn in as governor by the Supreme Court on Jan. 1, 1979, but List decided to repeat the ceremony during his Jan. 2 inauguration, Rocha said. List was concerned a Jan. 1 inauguration would conflict with people's desire to watch New Year's Day college football games, according to news reports.

Inaugurations since 1967 have been on the steps of the Capitol and drawn crowds of as many as 1,000 people.

Regardless of what day in January the inauguration will be, Rocha said one can be sure it will be either "very cold or cold" in Carson City.

Weather was so inclement in 1975 that Gov. Mike O'Callaghan decided to move the inauguration ceremonies in the old Assembly chambers inside the Capitol.