St. Cloud area’s 3 Freshmen Lawmakers Ready To Be Sworn-In

ST. PAUL -- King Banaian is one of three new lawmakers from the St. Cloud area that will be sworn-in to office tomorrow (Tuesday).  The 2011 State Legislative Session begins at noon.

Banaian says he's ready to hit the ground running, and is ready to introduce his first bill.

Banaian is the new State Representative for House District 15B, the seat previously held by Larry Haws.

Tim O'Driscoll heads to St. Paul to represent House District 14A.  That's the seat previously held by Dan Severson.  O'Driscoll has spent the past few years as the mayor of Sartell.

John Pederson is going from the St. Cloud City Council Chamber to the State Senate Chamber.   He says he's been talking with top Republicans and he's excited to get a jobs bill put together.

Pederson takes over the Senate seat held by Tarryl Clark, and before her it was a seat that Mayor Dave Kleis used to have.

All three men are Republicans.

The area's Legislative delegation goes from an even split delegation -- three DFL and three GOP lawmakers -- in the past few sessions, to now having five GOP lawmakers and one DFL Representative.

The three veteran lawmakers from the area that are returning to St. Paul are Republican Senator Michelle Fischbach, GOP Representative Steve Gottwalt, and DFL Representative Larry Hosch.

The 2011 State Legislative Session is scheduled to run through the 3rd Monday in May.