Writerranger's recent post about some states not having Lt. Governor's prompted me to look up the position. I didn't realize that some states didn't have the office at all. Thanks WR!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_governor


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In the United States, the office of Lieutenant Governor (pronounced /luˈtɛ.nənt/) is the second-highest executive office in a state and is nominally subordinate to the Governor. The procedure for election of Lieutenant Governor varies from state to state with 24 states having the Governor and Lieutenant Governor elected as running mates on a joint ticket (for example in New York, Maryland and Kansas), while in 18 states, the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor run separately. The latter can cause the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to be from different parties and bitter political rivals (such as is often the case in California, Virginia, and Alabama).

In the U.S. the main duty of the Lieutenant Governor is to act as Governor should the Governor be temporarily absent from the office. In addition, the Lieutenant Governor generally succeeds a Governor who dies or resigns. In most states, the Lieutenant Governor then becomes Governor, with the title and its associated salary, office, and privileges. In a few states, like Massachusetts the Lieutenant Governor instead becomes "Acting Governor" until the next election.

Other than this primary constitutional duty, most state constitutions do not prescribe the duties of the Lieutenant Governor in detail.

In a few states such as Hawaii and Utah, the position of Lieutenant Governor is equivalent to that of Secretary of State.
In some states the Lieutenant Governor is the Speaker of the upper house of the legislature. In the states of Mississippi and Texas, the Lieutenant Governor, elected separately from the Governor, presides over the State Senate, and by convention and legislative rule has a great deal more influence on legislation than the Governor. Thus, when a Lieutenant Governor of Texas becomes Governor, they assume a higher office, but lose some of their previous authority.
In Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Tennessee and West Virginia the President of the state Senate assumes the office of Governor upon a vacancy. In November 2005, New Jersey voters approved a constitutional amendment to create the office of Lieutenant Governor. The office will be officially enacted following the 2009 general election. Even though the West Virginia Constitution establishes no such office, West Virginia Code 6A-1-4 assigns the title of Lieutenant Governor to the Senate President. In Tennessee, the leader of the Senate's full title is the Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the Senate. John S. Wilder was elected to that post in 1971, which, as of 2006, he still holds. As of 2006, he is both the longest-serving and oldest Lieutenant Governor in the United States.

Arizona, Oregon and Wyoming also do not have a Lieutenant Governor. In these three states and Puerto Rico the Secretary of State becomes Governor upon the office's vacancy.

American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands have the office of Lieutenant Governor.

The office of Lieutenant Governor existed in all of the 17th- and 18th-century British colonies that later became the initial thirteen United States of America. The defining difference between the Lieutenant Governor and the Royal Governor was that the Lieutenant Governor would be required to live in the colony to which he was appointed. Also, the Royal Governor would be paid directly by the crown, where as the Lieutenant Governor would be paid by the colonial treasury.

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