Lieutenant Governor of California facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Lieutenant Governor of California |
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| Government of California | |
| Style | Madam Lieutenant Governor (Informal) The Honorable (Formal) Madam President (When presiding over California Senate) |
| Member of | Constitutional California State Senate Statutory California Community Colleges Board of Governors California State Lands Commission California State University Board of Trustees University of California Board of Regents |
| Residence | None official |
| Seat | Sacramento, California California State Capitol |
| Appointer | Popular vote |
| Term length | Four years, renewable once |
| Constituting instrument | Constitution of California |
| Inaugural holder | John McDougal 1849 |
| Succession | First (gubernatorial line of succession) |
| Salary | $130,490 |
The lieutenant governor of California is the second highest executive officer of the government of the U.S. state of California. The lieutenant governor is elected to serve a four-year term and can serve a maximum of two terms. In addition to largely ministerial roles, serving as acting governor in the absence of the governor of California and as President of the California State Senate, the lieutenant governor either sits on (or appoints representatives to) many of California's regulatory commissions and executive agencies.
California is one of seventeen states where the governor and lieutenant governor do not run as running mates on the same ticket: in California the governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately, although both are up for election in the same year every four years. As a result, California has frequently had a governor and a lieutenant governor of different parties.
California has had 41 lieutenant governors and five acting lieutenant governors since achieving statehood in 1850. The current lieutenant governor is Eleni Kounalakis, a Democrat who was sworn into office on January 7, 2019. She is the first woman elected to the office in California history.
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Responsibilities
The lieutenant governor is, after the governor, the highest-ranking executive officer of the state of California. The responsibilities of this independently elected office are largely concerned with core constitutional duties, higher education, natural resources, economic development. In addition, the lieutenant governor carries out some miscellaneous functions.
Core constitutional duties
The California Constitution designates the lieutenant governor as president of the California State Senate and provides that all the powers of the governor fall to the lieutenant governor whenever the governor is not in the State of California, with the lieutenant governor often signing or vetoing legislation, or making political appointments, whenever the governor leaves the state. In practice, the lieutenant governor only presides over the Senate when requested by the president pro tempore or in order to cast a tie-breaking vote. Moreover, there is a gentlemen's agreement for the lieutenant governor not to perform more than perfunctory duties while the governor is away from the state. This agreement was violated when Mike Curb was in office, as he signed several executive orders at odds with the administration of Jerry Brown and appointed Armand Arabian as presiding justice on the California Courts of Appeal when Brown was out of the state. Brown withdrew Arabian's appointment upon his return, appointing Bernard S. Jefferson in his place. In the 1979 case In re Governorship, the California Supreme Court upheld the lieutenant governor's right to perform the duties and assume all of the prerogatives of governor while the governor is out of the state, but that the governor generally has the right to rescind those actions upon his or her return.
Higher education
The lieutenant governor is the only elected official in California to have a comprehensive policymaking role over the entire higher education system. By virtue of office, he or she is a full voting member of the Board of Regents of the University of California, the Board of Trustees of California State University, the Board of Governors of the California Community College System, and the Calbright College Board of Trustees.
Natural resources
Together with the state controller and director of finance, the lieutenant governor is a member of the California State Lands Commission. The State Lands Commission is an independent state agency which manages 450,000 acres of school trust lands and an additional 4,000,000 acres of public trust lands consisting of California's foreshore, nearshore, and the beds of natural navigable rivers, streams, lakes, bays, estuaries, inlets, and straits. The position of commission chair alternates annually between the lieutenant governor and the state controller; in those years when the lieutenant governor is commission chair, the lieutenant governor is also a voting member of the Ocean Protection Council and a non-voting member of the California Coastal Commission.
Economic development
The lieutenant governor chairs the Commission for Economic Development, which is responsible for fostering economic growth in California by developing and implementing strategies for attracting new business to the state, increasing state exports, creating new jobs, and stimulating industries statewide. The commission is composed of appointees from the legislature and the governor and currently does not have a quorum needed to meet.
Miscellaneous functions
Many California projects created through gubernatorial executive orders, or through the initiative process, include a role for the lieutenant governor. For example, the lieutenant governor serves on the Agriculture-Water Transition Task Force (created by Governor Gray Davis), and five of the twenty-nine members of the oversight committee of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine are appointed by the lieutenant governor.
See also
- List of lieutenant governors of California
- List of current United States lieutenant governors
- Impeachment in California
