Governor of California

The Governor of California is the head of state and head of government of the U.S. state of California. The California Governor is the chief executive of the state government and the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard.

For a list, see List of governors of California.

Governor of California
Seal of the Governor of California
Standard of the Governor
Incumbent
Gavin Newsom
since January 7, 2019
California Executive Branch
StyleThe Honorable
(formal)
ResidenceCalifornia Governor's Mansion
SeatSacramento, California
Term lengthFour-year term, renewable once
Inaugural holderPeter Hardeman Burnett
FormationDecember 20, 1849
SalaryUS$173,987 (2013)[1]
WebsiteOfficial website

Established in the Constitution of California, the governor's responsibilities also include making the annual State of the State address 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 of California is Democrat Gavin Newsom, who was inaugurated on January 7, 2019.

Gubernatorial elections, oath, and term of office

Qualifications

Any candidate for Governor must be a U.S. Citizen, be a registered voter, not be convicted of a felony involving bribery, embezzlement, or extortion, and not having previously served two terms since November 6, 1990.[2]

Election and oath of Governor

Governors are elected by popular ballot and serve terms of four years, with a limit of two terms, if served after November 6, 1990.[3] 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 sometimes signing or vetoing legislation, or making political appointments, whenever the governor leaves the state. 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.[4]

The lieutenant governor is also the president of the California State Senate.

Gubernatorial facts

Age and longevity

Transition events
Milton Latham
  • 6th Governor (1860)

Presidential campaigns
Ronald Reagan
gollark: In any case, the power grid I had ran off a decent fission or fusion system (forgot which), but the shield was on some sort of low-throughput wireless powerline.
gollark: Maybe with turbines.
gollark: I *have* used them before, several times. Also NuclearCraft fusion.
gollark: I don't think they go up to 100MRF/t, but about 9.6.
gollark: Yes, but most things use less than that.

See also

References
  1. "CSG Releases 2013 Governor Salaries". The Council of State Governments. June 25, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
  2. "Summary of Qualifications and Requirements for the Offices of Governor and Lieutenant Governor | California Secretary of State". www.sos.ca.gov.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.").
  5. Alastair Dallas (June 5, 2004). "Governors of California: 1849–2003". familydallas.com. Archived from the original on March 8, 2005. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  6. "Californian Removes Himself From Running for No. 2 Spot". The New York Times. August 5, 1988.
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