Lieutenant Governor of Alabama
| Alabama Lieutenant Governor | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Office Type: | Partisan |
| Office website: | Official Link |
| 2013 FY Budget: | $970,030 |
| Term limits: | 2 terms |
| Structure | |
| Length of term: | 4 years |
| Authority: | Constitution of Alabama, Article V, Section 112 |
| Selection Method: | Elected |
| Current Officeholder | |
 | |
| Name: | Kay Ivey |
| Officeholder Party: | Republican |
| Assumed office: | January 17, 2011 |
| Compensation: | $112,895 |
| Elections | |
| Next election: | November 4, 2014 |
| Last election: | November 2, 2010 |
| Other Alabama Executive Offices | |
| Governor • Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General • Treasurer • Auditor • Superintendent of Education • Agriculture Commissioner • Insurance Commissioner • Natural Resources Commissioner • Labor Commissioner • Public Service Commission | |
Contents |
Established soon after the Civil War, the office of the lieutenant governor was abolished with the 1875 Constitution and recreated in the 1901. The lieutenant governor's most important duties include acting as the successor to the governor and as the president of the state senate. Alabama is one of only five states in which the governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately and thus may be from different parties.
Current officeholder
- See also: Current Lieutenant Governors
The 30th and current lieutenant governor is Kay Ivey, a Republican elected in 2010. Ivey will come up for re-election in November 2014 and her term will end on January 19, 2015.
Before becoming lieutenant governor, Ivey served as Alabama Treasurer from 2002 to 2010. Before entering public service, she was Director of Government Affairs for the Alabama Commission on Higher Education from 1985 to 1998, Assistant Director of the Alabama Development Office from 1982 to 1985, and a Reading Clerk for the Alabama House of Representatives from 1980 to 1982. Ivey was also Assistant Vice President of Merchants National Bank/Regions Bank from 1970 to 1979. She is a graduate of Auburn University and is unmarried.[1]
Authority
The state constitution establishes the office of the lieutenant governor in Article V, the Executive Department.
Constitution of Alabama, Article V, Section 112
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The executive department shall consist of a governor, lieutenant governor... |
Qualifications
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The lieutenant governor may not hold any federal or state office in Alabama concurrently with his gubernatorial term. Additionally, the lieutenant governor must be at least 30 years old, an American citizen for at least ten years on the date of the election, and a resident of Alabama for at least seven years.
Constitution of Alabama, Article V, Section 116
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The governor, lieutenant governor, attorney-general, state auditor, secretary of state, state treasurer, superintendent of education, commissioner of agriculture and industries, elected after the ratification of this Constitution, shall hold their respective offices for the term of four years from the first Monday after the second Tuesday in January next succeeding their election, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified. |
Constitution of Alabama, Article V, Section 117
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The governor and lieutenant governor shall each be at least thirty years of age when elected, and shall have been citizens of the United States ten years and resident citizens of this state at least seven years next before the date of their election. |
Elections
- See also: Gubernatorial election cycles by state
- See also: Election of lieutenant governors
Per Section 114 of the state constitution, Alabama elects its lieutenant governors during federal midterm election years (e.g. 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018). Section 116 sets the lieutenant governor's inauguration for the first Monday after the second Tuesday in the January following an election. Thus, January 17, 2011 and January 19, 2015 are inaugural days.
Constitution of Alabama, Article V, Section 114
| The governor, lieutenant governor, attorney-general, state auditor, secretary of state, state treasurer, superintendent of education, and commissioner of agriculture and industries shall be elected by the qualified electors of the state at the same time and places appointed for the election of members of the legislature in the year nineteen hundred and two, and in every fourth year thereafter. |
Constitution of Alabama, Article V, Section 116
| The governor, lieutenant governor, attorney-general, state auditor, secretary of state, state treasurer, superintendent of education, commissioner of agriculture and industries, elected after the ratification of this Constitution, shall hold their respective offices for the term of four years from the first Monday after the second Tuesday in January next succeeding their election, and until their successors shall be elected and qualified. |
Term limits
- See also: States with gubernatorial term limits
In addition to a term limit that prevents a lieutenant governor from succeeding himself for more than one additional term (i.e. two term maximum), Alabama has an unusual provision that forbids a sitting lieutenant governor from seeking another state office or serving in the U.S. Senate within one year of leaving office. (§ 116).
Vacancies
Details of vacancy appointments are addressed under Article V, Sections 127 and 128.
The following line of succession exists to fill a vacancy in the lieutenant governor's chair:
- the President Pro Tem of the Senate
- the Speaker of the House
- the Attorney General
- the Auditor
- the Treasurer
Duties
Whereas the formal powers of the lieutenant governor are rather limited and ceremonial, he has substantial influence in his capacity as President of the state Senate. The president has the power to appoint members and chairs of Senate committees and to determine the committees to which legislation is referred for consideration. These powers allow the lieutenant governor to indirectly influence what legislation moves out of committee for debate and the form in which it is considered.
State budget
The budget for the Lieutenant Governor's Office in Fiscal Year 2012-2013 was $970,030.[2]
Compensation
- See also: Comparison of lieutenant gubernatorial salaries and Compensation of state executive officers
In 2012, the Alabama Lieutenant Governor was paid an estimated $134,592. This figure comes from the Council of State Governments.
Alabama Constitution, Article V, Section 118 of the state constitution requires that changes in compensation take effect in the term after they were passed.
Alabama Constitution, Article V, Section 118
| The governor, lieutenant governor, attorney-general, state auditor, secretary of state, state treasurer, superintendent of education, and commissioner of agriculture and industries, shall receive compensation to be fixed by law, which shall not be increased or diminished during the term for which they shall have been elected, and shall, except the lieutenant governor, reside at the state capital during the time they continue in office, except during epidemics. |
History
The office of the lieutenant governor was first established in Alabama's 1868 Constitution during Reconstruction. It declared the lieutenant governor the presiding officer of the Senate, gave this individual a vote in the event of a tie vote in the Senate, and named the occupant of the office the first successor to the governor if that office was vacated. Seven years later, conservative Democrats abolished the office in the 1875 Constitution as part of a campaign to reduce the size and increase the efficiency of state government. In 1901, lawmakers restored the office of lieutenant governor in a new constitution with powers similar to those in the 1868 version. This occurred in part because Governor William Samford died while the constitutional convention was in session and the delegates recognized a need to establish a clear line of succession. The provisions applying to the lieutenant governor have not changed significantly since 1901.
Twenty-seven Alabamians have served as lieutenant governor. Only two individuals have served two or more terms; James Allen (1951-1955 and 1963-1967) and James E. Folsom Jr. (1987-1991, 1991 to April, 1993, and 2007-present). Senator and President Pro Tempore Ryan de Graffenried assumed the office of the president of the Senate in 1993, when Folsom was elevated to the governorship after Guy Hunt was removed from office. De Graffenried performed the duties of the lieutenant governor but did not become lieutenant governor because the state's constitution does not provide for anyone to succeed the lieutenant governor when that office is vacated. Albert Brewer became governor in 1968 after the death of Lurleen Wallace, and Jim Folsom Jr. assumed the office in 1993 when Guy Hunt was convicted for diverting funds from one of his inauguration accounts. Russell Cunningham served as acting governor during 1904 and 1905 while William Jelks was out of state in an effort to recover from tuberculosis and Jere Beasley served as acting governor for a short period in 1972 while George Wallace was hospitalized in Maryland after an assassination attempt. Only two lieutenant governors, Thomas Kilby in 1918 and Don Siegelman in 1998, were later elected governor.
Only one woman, Lucy Baxley (2003-2007), has served as the state's lieutenant governor, and no person of color has been elected to the office thus far. Nearly 75 percent (20 of 27) have been attorneys, five were business persons, and two were physicians. Siegelman has been the only Catholic. Alabama lieutenant governors have come from all regions of the state, with the most being from Birmingham (six) and three from Mobile. Eleven were born out of state, including four from Georgia and two from Tennessee. In addition to the six lieutenant governors who served as governor, several have held other state elective offices. Bill Baxley, Thomas Knight Jr., and Siegelman each served as Alabama Attorney General for one term, whereas Albert Carmichael served two terms in that office. After his second term as lieutenant governor, Jim Allen served in the U.S. Senate from 1969 to 1978. More than half of the state's lieutenant governor's served in either the Alabama House of Representatives or Senate before becoming lieutenant governor, and two, Hugh Merrill and Albert Brewer, served as speaker of Alabama's House of Representatives.
Contact information
Physical address:
11 South Union Street, Suite 725
Montgomery, Alabama 36130
Phone: 334-242-7900
Fax: 334-242-4661
See also
- Lieutenant Governor of Alabama Kay Ivey
- Governor of Alabama
- Alabama Attorney General
- Alabama Secretary of State
External links
- Office of the Lieutenant Governor website
- Follow the Money
- Project Vote Smart - Lieutenant Governor James 'Jim' Folsom, Jr.
References
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