The Governor

The Executive Branch enforces and administers the laws. The Governor is the Chief Executive of state government. In other words, he/she is the head of the Executive Branch.

The Governor must be at least 25 years old and a resident of the state for the three years preceding his election, and a citizen. The Governor's term of office is 4 years and may be re-elected an unlimited number of times. The order of succession to the Governor's office is:

1. Lieutenant Governor
2. Attorney General
3. Secretary of State

The Governor, besides enforcing and administering the law, also has the important duty of vetoing or approving bills passed by the General Assembly.

Other duties of the Governor are:

• The Governor appoints many members of the state government. Many of these appointments require the approval of the State Senate. The Governor may also remove any of these officials he feels are incompetent. (The Governor cannot remove the other executive officers such as the Secretary of State since they are elected).
• The Governor may grant pardons, reprieves, and commutations. Pardon means to forgive a person of a crime. Reprieve means to delay the carrying out of a criminal sentence. To commute a sentence is to shorten a criminal sentence.
• The Governor shall deliver to the General Assembly an address about the condition of the state.
• The Governor is the commander-in-chief of the state militia, except in cases of national emergency when they are called into federal service. The Governor may call out the militia to carry out the laws of the state.
• The Governor may call special sessions of the General Assembly.

Vetoes

The Governor has three types of vetoes. The regular veto is like the President's veto in which the whole bill is rejected. The bill is returned to the house of the General Assembly where it began with a list of reasons why the Governor vetoed it. The item veto means to veto only a part of a bill. This type of veto is for appropriations (spending) bills where the Governor simply changes the appropriation. The houses can pass over this veto by simply accepting the appropriation change. The third type of veto is the amendatory veto. If the Governor notes specific recommendations the house can pass the bill by simply accepting the recommendation.

The Governor's office is similar in some ways to the office of the President except Governors do not deal with the making of foreign policy or national defense issues to any great degree.

Here is a link to the Governor's sight.