(ABC 6 News) – As a military veteran and police officer, Christian Hermanson is used to enforcing the laws. Now, as the newly-elected representative for Iowa’s 59th House district, he will be helping to write them.

“Law enforcement,” said Hermanson, “is kind of the business end of public policy. I’m going to bring the perspective of somebody that’s been on that end of the business.”

Hermanson assumed office January 1, and said of new member orientation, “it’s like Schoolhouse Rock on steroids.”

“The House staff down there is really amazing,” Hermanson said. “They set you down, show you how to enter a bill request, then how the drafters put together the nuts and bolts of it and the drafting process.”

Hermanson said he and his group of more than a dozen fellow freshmen members, “didn’t have a whole lot of policy discussion… just sitting down, talking and getting to know one another. It was more about just making that human connection with another person. It’s a lot of team building.”

Hermanson said his top objective is public safety in North Iowa, and wants to address “the amount of drugs that we have in our community, the poison that flows through the veins and it ruins families.”

He also said he hoped to “advocate for better transportation funding; we’re a little behind the curve and should be looking ahead twenty, thirty years into the future. The demands on our infrastructure are increasing, but the funds to upgrade them or even maintain them are decreasing.”

The 2025 Iowa Legislative session begins on Monday, January 13.