diff --git a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala
index 2136a2ea63543..41fa9168d81f9 100644
--- a/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala
+++ b/sql/hive-thriftserver/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/thriftserver/SparkSQLEnv.scala
@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ private[hive] object SparkSQLEnv extends Logging {
       sparkContext.addSparkListener(new StatsReportListener())
 
       hiveContext = new HiveContext(sparkContext) {
-        @transient override lazy val sessionState = {
-          val state = SessionState.get()
+        @transient lazy val sessionState = {
+          val state = getSessionState()
           setConf(state.getConf.getAllProperties)
           state
         }
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala
index fad4091d48a89..005b8a0649b83 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveContext.scala
@@ -230,13 +230,21 @@ class HiveContext(sc: SparkContext) extends SQLContext(sc) {
    * in the HiveConf.
    */
   @transient lazy val hiveconf = new HiveConf(classOf[SessionState])
-  @transient protected[hive] lazy val sessionState = {
-    val ss = new SessionState(hiveconf)
-    setConf(hiveconf.getAllProperties)  // Have SQLConf pick up the initial set of HiveConf.
-    SessionState.start(ss)
-    ss.err = new PrintStream(outputBuffer, true, "UTF-8")
-    ss.out = new PrintStream(outputBuffer, true, "UTF-8")
 
+  /**
+   * If the thread local sessionstate is not set, start a new SessionState
+   * SessionState.start will put ss to thread local
+   * @return
+   */
+  def getSessionState() = {
+    var ss = SessionState.get
+    if (ss == null) {
+      ss = new SessionState(hiveconf)
+      setConf(hiveconf.getAllProperties) // Have SQLConf pick up the initial set of HiveConf.
+      SessionState.start(ss)
+      ss.err = new PrintStream(outputBuffer, true, "UTF-8")
+      ss.out = new PrintStream(outputBuffer, true, "UTF-8")
+    }
     ss
   }
 
@@ -283,6 +291,8 @@ class HiveContext(sc: SparkContext) extends SQLContext(sc) {
    */
   protected def runHive(cmd: String, maxRows: Int = 1000): Seq[String] = {
     try {
+      // invoke getSessionState to initialize session state if not already done
+      val sessionState = getSessionState()
       val cmd_trimmed: String = cmd.trim()
       val tokens: Array[String] = cmd_trimmed.split("\\s+")
       val cmd_1: String = cmd_trimmed.substring(tokens(0).length()).trim()
diff --git a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala
index 04c48c385966e..239364270d3ed 100644
--- a/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala
+++ b/sql/hive/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/hive/HiveMetastoreCatalog.scala
@@ -51,7 +51,8 @@ private[hive] class HiveMetastoreCatalog(hive: HiveContext) extends Catalog with
       tableName: String,
       alias: Option[String]): LogicalPlan = synchronized {
     val (databaseName, tblName) = processDatabaseAndTableName(
-                                    db.getOrElse(hive.sessionState.getCurrentDatabase), tableName)
+                                    db.getOrElse(hive.getSessionState
+                                      .getCurrentDatabase), tableName)
     val table = client.getTable(databaseName, tblName)
     val partitions: Seq[Partition] =
       if (table.isPartitioned) {
@@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ private[hive] class HiveMetastoreCatalog(hive: HiveContext) extends Catalog with
 
       case CreateTableAsSelect(db, tableName, child) =>
         val (dbName, tblName) = processDatabaseAndTableName(db, tableName)
-        val databaseName = dbName.getOrElse(hive.sessionState.getCurrentDatabase)
+        val databaseName = dbName.getOrElse(hive.getSessionState.getCurrentDatabase)
 
         CreateTableAsSelect(Some(databaseName), tableName, child)
     }