The Lieutenant Governor of Texas is the second-highest executive office in the government of Texas, a state in the U.S. It is the second most powerful post in Texas government because its occupant controls the work of the Texas Senate and controls the budgeting process as a leader of the Legislative Budget Board.
Under the provisions of the Texas constitution, the Lieutenant Governor is President of the Texas Senate. By the rules of the Senate, the Lieutenant Governor establishes all special and standing committees, appoints all chairpersons and members, and assigns all Senate legislation to the committee of his choice. The Lieutenant Governor decides all questions of parliamentary procedure in the Senate. He or she also has broad discretion in following Senate procedural rules.
The Lieutenant Governor is an ex officio member of several statutory bodies. These include the Legislative Budget Board, the Legislative Council, the Legislative Audit Committee, the Legislative Board and Legislative Council, which have considerable sway over state programs, the budget and policy. The Lieutenant Governor is also a member of the Legislative Redistricting Board (together with the Speaker of the House, Attorney General, Comptroller, and Land Commissioner), which is charged with adopting a redistricting plan for the Texas House of Representatives, Texas Senate, or U.S. House of Representatives after the decennial census if the Legislature fails to do so.
In the case of a vacancy in the Lieutenant Governor's office, the Senate elects one of its members to act as President of the Senate until the next statewide office election, in effect becoming the Lieutenant Governor. A Senator elected as presiding officer in this way retains his district seat and the voting privileges entailed with his Senate election. The Lieutenant Governor is sworn-in on the third Tuesday every four years, the same as the Governor.
The Lieutenant Governor is sworn into office on the third Tuesday every four years in January, and Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst has been the 41st Lieutenant Governor of Texas since January 21, 2003. Dewhurst began his third term on January 18, 2011, which ends on January 20, 2015.
The Lieutenant Governor assumes the powers of the Governor of Texas when the governor is out of the state or otherwise unable to discharge the office. The Lieutenant Governor is elected separately from the Governor, rather than on the same ticket; it is therefore possible for the Governor and Lieutenant Governor to be from different political parties (which was the case during Governor George W. Bush's first term and also during Bill Clements's two nonconsecutive terms). The Lieutenant Governor becomes Governor if the elected Governor resigns, dies or is removed from office via impeachment. Current Governor Rick Perry took office upon George W. Bush's resignation on December 21, 2000. Bush beacme US President on January 20, 2001.
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... Texas is one of the few states that vests significant power in the office of Lieutenant Governor, making it among the most influential ... By contrast, the Lieutenant Governor position in other states has few (if any) legislative responsibilities, akin to the Vice President of the United States ... The consequence of a strong Lieutenant Governor of Texas is that the Governor of Texas is weaker than other states' Governors ...
... Cauchon Conservative Jacques Malouin Independent Appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba. 1876 David Laird Liberal James Colledge Pope Conservative Appointed Lieutenant-Governor of the North West Territories ... Yes Glengarry 1875 Donald Alexander Macdonald Liberal Archibald McNab Liberal Appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario ...
... Hobby was elected lieutenant governor in November 1972 with 93 percent of the statewide vote, having defeated token opposition, not from a Republican but from the Hispanic former third party, Raza ... also a Houston businessman, a former Secretary of State of Texas, and later the Republican state chairman ... seek an unprecedented sixth term in 1990, and the lieutenant governorship passed to fellow Democrat then-Comptroller Bob Bullock on January 15, 1991 ...
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