What is "lieutenant governor"

Lieutenant \Lieu*ten"ant\ (l[-u]*t[e^]n"ant), n. [F., fr. lieu place + tenant holding, p. pr. of tenir to hold, L. tenere. See Lieu, and Tenant, and cf. Locum tenens.]

1. An officer who supplies the place of a superior in his absence; a representative of, or substitute for, another in the performance of any duty.

   The lawful magistrate, who is the vicegerent or lieutenant of God.
   --Abp. Bramhall.

2. 1. A commissioned officer in the army, next below a captain.

   2. A commissioned officer in the British navy, in rank next below a commander.

   3. A commissioned officer in the United States navy, in rank next below a lieutenant commander. Note: Lieutenant is often used, either adjectively or in hyphened compounds, to denote an officer, in rank next below another, especially when the duties of the higher officer may devolve upon the lower one; as, lieutenant general, or lieutenant-general; lieutenant colonel, or lieutenant-colonel; lieutenant governor, etc. Deputy lieutenant, the title of any one of the deputies or assistants of the lord lieutenant of a county. [Eng.] Lieutenant colonel, an army officer next in rank above major, and below colonel. Lieutenant commander, an officer in the United States navy, in rank next below a commander and next above a lieutenant. Lieutenant general. See in Vocabulary. Lieutenant governor.

      1. An officer of a State, being next in rank to the governor, and in case of the death or resignation of the latter, himself acting as governor. [U. S.]

      2. A deputy governor acting as the chief civil officer of one of several colonies under a governor general.

alt. 1 (context Canada government English) The representative of the Crown in the provincial legislatures of Canada. 2 (context US government English) The next-in-line to the chief executive of a primary political division of the United States of America, such as a state, second to the governor. n. 1 (context Canada government English) The representative of the Crown in the provincial legislatures of Canada. 2 (context US government English) The next-in-line to the chief executive of a primary political division of the United States of America, such as a state, second to the governor.

n. an elected official serving as deputy to the governor of a state of the United States

A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction, but is often the deputy or lieutenant to or ranking under a governor — a " second-in-command".

In Canada, a lieutenant governor (; French [masculine]: lieutenant-gouverneur, or [feminine]: lieutenant-gouverneure) is the viceregal representative in a provincial jurisdiction of the , who resides predominantly in oldest realm, the United Kingdom. On the advice of his or her prime minister, the Governor General of Canada appoints the lieutenant governors to carry out most of the monarch's constitutional and ceremonial duties for an unfixed period of time—known as serving genderp=*}}}} Majesty's pleasure|at His Excellency's pleasure—though five years is the normal convention. Similar positions in Canada's three territories are termed Commissioners and are representatives of the federal government, however, not the monarch directly.

The offices have their roots in the 16th and 17th century colonial governors of New France and British North America, though the present incarnations of the positions emerged with Canadian Confederation and the British North America Act in 1867, which defined the viceregal offices as the "Lieutenant Governor of the Province acting by and with the Advice the Executive Council thereof." However, the posts still ultimately represented the government of Canada (that is, the title=*}}-in-Council|Governor-General-in-Council) until the ruling in 1882 of the Lord Watson of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of Maritime Bank v. Receiver-General of New Brunswick, whereafter the lieutenant governors were recognized as the direct representatives of the monarch. Per the Constitution Act, 1982, any constitutional amendment that affects the Crown, including the Offices of the lieutenant governors, requires the unanimous consent of each provincial legislature as well as the federal parliament.

In the United States, 43 of the 50 states have an office of '''lieutenant governor '''including two states in which the elected Speaker of the state Senate (Senator) serves in such a capacity. In most cases, the lieutenant governor is the highest officer of state after the governor, standing in for that officer when he or she is absent from the state or temporarily incapacitated. In the event a governor dies, resigns or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor typically becomes governor.

In 25 states, the governor and lieutenant governor are elected on the same ticket, ensuring that they come from the same political party. In the remaining 18 states, they are elected separately and, thus, may come from different parties. The lieutenant governor is also frequently the presiding officer of the upper house of the state legislature, similar to the Vice President of the United States. Among the seven states without a separate, full-time office of lieutenant governor, two states have a post of lieutenant governor that is filled by the highest officer of the state Senate. In Tennessee, the full title of the leader of the Senate is " Lieutenant Governor and Speaker of the Senate". In West Virginia, the title of Lieutenant Governor is assigned by statute to the Senate President. With the exception of Arkansas, California, Georgia, Idaho, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia, every state has had a female Lieutenant-Governor or equivalent - although Mona Pasquil briefly acted as Lieutenant-Governor of California between Abel Maldonado and John Garamendi.

In Maine and New Hampshire, the presiding officer of the State Senate assumes the governor's office upon a vacancy. In the remaining three states – Arizona, Oregon, and Wyoming – the Secretary of State becomes governor upon the office's vacancy.

The U.S. commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Virgin Islands have the office of lieutenant governor. In the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, the appointed Secretary of State becomes governor upon the office's vacancy while the Chief of Staff is typically the highest office after the governor.

Lieutenant governors are the only officials with specific duties and powers in two branches of state government: the executive and legislative branches. More than half of the NLGA members preside over their state senate. Most pursue legislative initiatives; many testify locally and in Washington D.C. in various capacities; some serve on the governors’ cabinets; and others maintain varied portfolios of duties. In many states, the duties of lieutenant governor are increased by legislation to include the lieutenant governor on state boards, commissions and task forces. "

Alaska, Hawaii, and Utah do not have a Secretary of State but the lieutenant governor does these duties instead. In New Jersey, the governor must appoint the lieutenant to head a cabinet-level department or administrative agency within the state government's executive branch—but not to the post of state attorney general, the current holder, Kim Guadagno, serving as the Secretary of State. The Lieutenant Governor of Texas plays an active role as presiding officer of the State Senate and is often rumored to be more powerful than the state governor. The Lieutenant Governor of Virginia also serves as the President of the Senate, as do about half the lieutenant governors. "[4]

The positions are sometimes criticized for lacking duties and power and described by political insiders as "get up, read the paper, see if the governor is dead, if not, go back to sleep". In the 2010 election for the lieutenant governor of Rhode Island, 40% of the vote was won by a perennial candidate who wanted to abolish the office, saying "If you open up the dictionary to ‘ sinecure,’ you have a picture of the lieutenant governor of Rhode island".