Governor of California

Governor of California

Incumbent
Jerry Brown
since January 3, 2011
Style The Honorable
Residence None
Term length Four years, renewable once
Inaugural holder Peter Hardeman Burnett
Formation December 20, 1849
Deputy Gavin Newsom
Salary US$173,987 (2013)[1]
Website Official website

The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Military Reserve, whose responsibilities also include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced. The position was created in 1849, the year before California became a state. The current governor is Jerry Brown, a Democrat who was inaugurated January 3, 2011, and who had previously served as governor from 1975 to 1983. In October 2013 Brown surpassed Earl Warren for the longest cumulative period of time served as governor.

Gubernatorial elections, oath, and term of office

Governors are elected by popular ballot and serve terms of four years, with a limit of two terms, if served after November 6, 1990.[2] Governors take the following oath:

I (Governor) do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California, that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter.

Governors take office on the first Monday after January 1 after their election.

Gubernatorial removal

There are two methods available to remove a governor before the expiration of the gubernatorial term of office.

Impeachment and removal by the legislature

The governor can be impeached for "misconduct in office" by the State Assembly and removed by a two-thirds vote of the State Senate.

Recall by the voters
Petitions signed by California state voters equal in number to 12% of the last vote for the office of governor (with signatures from each of 5 counties equal in number to 1% of the last vote for governor in the county) can launch a gubernatorial recall election. The voters can then vote on whether or not to recall the incumbent governor, and on the same ballot, they can vote a potential replacement. If a majority of the voters in the election vote to recall the governor, then the person who gains a plurality of the votes in the replacement race will become governor.

The 2003 California recall began with a petition drive that successfully forced sitting Democratic Governor Gray Davis into a special recall election. It marked the first time in the history of California that a governor faced a recall election. He was subsequently voted out of office, becoming the second governor in the history of the United States to be recalled after Lynn Frazier of North Dakota in 1921. He was replaced by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Relationship with Lieutenant Governor of California

Governor-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger (left) and Governor Gray Davis (right) with President George W. Bush in 2003

The Lieutenant Governor of California is separately elected during the same election, not jointly as the running mate of the gubernatorial candidate. California has had a governor and a lieutenant governor of different parties 26 of the past 31 years. This occasionally becomes significant, since the California Constitution 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. The lieutenant governor is also the President of the California State Senate. In practice, 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 Brown administration when Brown was out of the state. Court rulings have 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.[3]

Gubernatorial facts

Age and longevity

Transition events

Milton Latham
6th Governor
(1860)

Presidential campaigns

Ronald Reagan
33rd Governor
(1967–1975)
40th President of the United States
(1981–1989)

See also

References

  1. ↑ "CSG Releases 2013 Governor Salaries". The Council of State Governments. June 25, 2013. Retrieved November 23, 2014.
  2. ↑ Shelley, Kevin (October 2003). "Summary of Qualifications and Requirements for the Office of Governor" (PDF). California Secretary of State Department. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 28, 2008. Retrieved February 23, 2009.
  3. ↑ In re Governorship, 26 Cal.3d 110, 401 (Supreme Court of California 1979) (“we conclude that the Lieutenant Governor has authority to exercise all gubernatorial powers of appointment while the Governor is physically absent from the state and that the Governor has authority to withdraw the appointment until the confirmation of appointment becomes effective.”).
  4. ↑ Alastair Dallas (June 5, 2004). "Governors of California: 1849–2003". familydallas.com. Archived from the original on March 8, 2005. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  5. ↑ "Californian Removes Himself From Running for No. 2 Spot". The New York Times. August 5, 1988.

External links

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