Acting governor

Categories: Government occupations

An acting governor is a constitutional position created in some U.S. states when the governor dies in office or resigns. In some states, the governor may also be declared to be incapacitated and unable to function for various reasons, including illness and absence from the state for more than a specified period.

In these instances, the state constitution will declare which official is to serve as governor, and whether this person will have all of the powers of the office or only specified ones. In many states, the person succeeding to the governorship or becoming acting governor is the lieutenant governor; however, not all states have such a position. If the state consititution provides for an acting governor in the event of the governor's disability, it will also provide for a method by which the governor can be declared to be no longer disabled.

In New Jersey, a state with no lieutenant governor, in the event of a vacancy in the office of governor, the President of the State Senate serves as the acting governor. The Senate President continues in the legislative role during his/her tenure as the state's acting chief executive, thus giving the person control over executive and legislative authority. The acting governor serves either until the next general election or, if the vacancy occurs less than 16 months before end of the term, until the end of the term. Richard Codey currently serves as the state's acting governor, following the resignation of Jim McGreevey. Following the resignation of Christine Todd Whitman in 2001 to become EPA Administrator, Donald DiFrancesco assumed the acting governor's post.

In Massachusetts, in the event of a vacancy in the governor's office, the lieutenant governor assumes the duties of the office, but not the office for the remainder of the term, thus becoming acting governor, while retaining the lieutenant governor's office. In 1997, when William Weld resigned to pursue the ambassadorship to Mexico, Paul Cellucci took over as acting governor until his 1998 election as governor. In 2001 when Cellucci resigned to become ambassador to Canada, Jane Swift became the acting governor for the remainder of the term.

The powers of an acting governor came into dispute during the 1980 Democratic primary presidential campaign of Jerry Brown, then governor of California. When he was out of state campaigning, which was often in late 1979 and early 1980, Mike Curb, a Republican who was then serving as Lieutenant Governor of California often used his position as acting governor to veto legislation, promulgate executive orders, issue proclamations, and to do other things that Brown would not likely have done had he been present in the state. This eventually resulted in litigation, much of which went in Curb's favor.

See also: Acting President; Acting (law)