FRANKFORT – House Republicans sent mixed messages Wednesday as lawmakers worked behind the scenes to craft a bill to overhaul one of the country’s worst-funded pension systems.

On the second day of the 2018 legislative session, House Speaker Pro Tem David Osborne said he’s hopeful a pension measure can be passed in the first two weeks of the session.

Osborne said fellow Republican Rep. Jerry Miller has been designated as the House’s point person on pension discussions. But Miller later said he hasn’t heard anything new about pension legislation since Christmas.

“I suspect there has been discussion at our leadership level, but I haven’t been privy to that,” Miller said. “I think our leadership has been quite distracted.”

The challenge of revamping the state’s public pension funds comes as the GOP-led House is embroiled in ongoing questions about who will be in charge as the chamber’s speaker. House Speaker Jeff Hoover temporarily stepped aside amid an investigation of a sexual harassment settlement he and three other Republican lawmakers signed last year. He denied sexual harassment but said he sent inappropriate but consensual text messages to a woman who once worked for the House Republican caucus.

Osborne is acting as speaker “until further notice,” leading to confusion about who’s in charge.

Senate President Robert Stivers acknowledged that the unresolved question of who will serve as House speaker is “somewhat slowing the process” on the pension bill.

The timing of a pension bill rollout remains uncertain. This year’s legislative session will last 60 working days stretching into the spring.