Governor of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Governor
General information
Office Type:	Partisan
Office website:	Official Link
2012-2013 FY Budget:	$6,429,000
Term limits:	Two consecutive terms
Structure
Length of term:	4 years
Authority:	Pennsylvania Constitution, Article IV, Section 2
Selection Method:	Elected
Current Officeholder
Name:	Tom Corbett
Officeholder Party:	Republican
Assumed office:	January 2011
Compensation:	$183,255
Elections
Next election:	November 4, 2014
Last election:	November 2, 2010
Other Pennsylvania 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

The Governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is an elected Constitutional officer, the head of the Executive branch, and the highest state office in Pennsylvania. The Governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and is limited to two consecutive terms.

As of May 2013, Pennsylvania is one of 24 Republican state government trifectas.

Current officer

The 46th and current governor is Tom Corbett, a Republican elected in 2010.

Authority

The state Constitution addresses the office of the governor in Article IV, the Executive Department.

Under Article IV, Section 2:

The supreme executive power shall be vested in the Governor...

Qualifications

Governors
Current Governors
Gubernatorial Elections
2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010 Lists of candidates
Current Lt. Governors
Lt. Governor Elections
2013 • 2012 • 2011 • 2010
Breaking news

A candidate for the governor must be:

• a citizen of the United States
• at least 30 years old
• a resident of Pennsylvania for at least seven years

Additionally, the governor may not hold Congressional office, any other office under the Commonwealth, or any federal office. The exception is that the governor may be a reserve member of the National Guard.

Elections

Pennsylvania elects governors in the midterm elections, that is, even years that are not Presidential election years. For Pennsylvania, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 are all gubernatorial election years. Legally, the gubernatorial inauguration is always set for the third Tuesday in the January following an election. Thus, January 18, 2011 and January 20, 2015 are inaugural days.

In the event of a tie, a joint session of the legislature shall cast ballots to choose the governor from the two top vote getters.

If an election's outcome is contest, the members of both chambers of the legislature shall select members of the special Commission to resolve the contest.

Term limits

See also: States with gubernatorial term limits

Pennsylvania governors are restricted to two consecutive terms in office, after which they must wait one term before being eligible to run again.

Pennsylvania Constitution, Article IV, Section 3

Except for the Governor who may be in office when this amendment is adopted, he shall be eligible to succeed himself for one additional term.

Partisan composition

The chart below shows the partisan breakdown of Pennsylvania State Governors from 1992-2013.

Vacancies

See also: How gubernatorial vacancies are filled

Details of vacancy appointments are addressed under Article IV, Section 13 and 14.

If the office of Governor becomes vacant through death, resignation, or conviction on impeachment, the Lieutenant Governor becomes Governor for the remainder of the term; if the office is only temporarily vacant due to disability of the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor only acts out the duties of Governor.

Should both offices be vacant, the president pro tempore of the Senate becomes Governor. The position of Lieutenant Governor was created in the 1874 state constitution; prior to then, the Speaker of the Senate would act as governor in cases of vacancy.

Duties

The Governor is the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces (§ 7). The governor has a duty to enforce state laws (§ 2), the power to approve or veto bills passed by the Pennsylvania Legislature subject to a two-thirds override (§ 15), and to convene the legislature for extraordinary session (§ 12).

The governor may grant pardons, reprieves, and commutations except in cases of impeachment, but only when recommended by the Board of Pardons (§ 9). The Board of Pardons consists of the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, and three gubernatorial appointees, each of whom must be confirmed by a two-third vote of the Senate and who serves a six year term.

Other duties and privileges of the office include:

• Appointing the Secretary of Education and all other offices not otherwise provided for, subject to the advice and two-third consent of the Senate (§ 8)

• Requiring written information from the head of any executive department on any aspect of that department's work (§ 10)

• Periodically addressing the General Assembly on the state of the state and making recommendation for legislation (§ 11)

• Adjourning the legislature when the body cannot agree to do so itself, for a period not to exceed four months (§ 12)

• Convening the Senate by special proclamation for the purposes of transacting executive business (§ 13)

• Vetoing appropriation bills, subject to legislative override (§ 16)

• Signing and sealing, with "The Great Seal of the State of Pennsylvania", all commissions granted by the state of Pennsylvania (§ 19)

State budget

The budget for the Governor's office in Fiscal Year 2012-2013 was $6,429,000.

Compensation

See also: Comparison of gubernatorial salaries and Compensation of state executive officers

2012

In 2012, the governor was paid an estimated $183,255. This figure comes from the Council of State Governments.

2010

As of 2010, the Governor of Pennsylvania is paid $174,914 a year, the 6th highest gubernatorial salary in America.

Partisan balance 1992-2013

See also: Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States and Ballotpedia:Who Runs the States, Pennsylvania’’

Partisan breakdown of the Pennsylvania governorship from 1992-2013

From 1992-2013, in Pennsylvania there were Democratic governors in office for 11 years while there were Republican governors in office for 11 years, including the last three. Pennsylvania was under Republican trifectas for the last three years of the study period.

Across the country, there were 493 years of Democratic governors (44.82%) and 586 years of Republican governors (53.27%) from 1992-2013.

Over the course of the 22-year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan. At the outset of the study period (1992), 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments. In 2013, only 13 states have divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied.

The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Senate and the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1992-2013.

Contact information

Office of the Governor
225 Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120
Phone:717-787-2500
Fax:717-772-8284

See also

• Governor Tom Corbett
• Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania
• Lieutenant Governor Jim Cawley
• Pennsylvania Attorney General
• Pennsylvania Secretary of State

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Pennsylvania Governor

References

• Wikipedia, Pennsylvania Governor

Portions of this article were adapted from Wikipedia.