Exhibit 31.1

                                  Certification

I, James C. McGill,  President and Chief Executive Officer of 1st State Bancorp,
Inc., certify that:

1.    I have reviewed this  Quarterly  Report on Form 10-Q of 1st State Bancorp,
      Inc.;

2.    Based on my knowledge,  this report does not contain any untrue  statement
      of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make the
      statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
      were made,  not  misleading  with  respect  to the period  covered by this
      report;

3.    Based on my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements,  and other  financial
      information  included  in this  report,  fairly  present  in all  material
      respects the financial condition,  results of operations and cash flows of
      the registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this report;

4.    The  registrant's  other  certifying  officer(s) and I are responsible for
      establishing  and  maintaining  disclosure  controls  and  procedures  (as
      defined in Exchange Act Rules  13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the registrant
      and have:

            (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
      disclosure  controls and procedures to be designed under our  supervision,
      to ensure that material information relating to the registrant,  including
      its consolidated subsidiaries,  is made known to us by others within those
      entities,  particularly  during the  period in which this  report is being
      prepared;

            (b)  Evaluated  the  effectiveness  of the  registrant's  disclosure
      controls and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about
      the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
      of the period covered by this report, based on such evaluation; and

            (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the registrant's internal
      control over  financial  reporting that occurred  during the  registrant's
      most recent fiscal quarter (the registrant's  fourth fiscal quarter in the
      case of an annual report) that has materially  affected,  or is reasonably
      likely to  materially  affect,  the  registrant's  internal  control  over
      financial reporting; and

5.    The registrant's other certifying  officer(s) and I have disclosed,  based
      on  our  most  recent   evaluation  of  internal  control  over  financial
      reporting,  to the  registrant's  auditors and the audit  committee of the
      registrant's  board or directors  (or persons  performing  the  equivalent
      functions):

            (a) All  significant  deficiencies  and material  weaknesses  in the
      design or operation of internal control over financial reporting which are
      reasonably likely to adversely affect the registrant's  ability to record,
      process, summarize and report financial information; and

            (b) Any fraud, whether or not material,  that involves management or
      other employees who have a significant role in the  registrant's  internal
      control over financial reporting.

Date: February 11, 2005

                                        /s/ James C. McGill
                                        ----------------------------------------
                                        James C. McGill
                                        President and Chief Executive Officer