Records of the Office of the Lieutenant Governor

Abstract: The State Archives holds very little from the Lieutenant Governor's office. The majority of records from this office consist of subject files and newspaper clippings related to topics of interest and to the workings of the Lieutenant Governor's office in the latter half of the 1990s. Other series are concerned with commissions and task forces the Lieutenant Governor spearheaded. The bulk of the records date from the 1980s and 1990s.

Administrative History: The Office of the Lieutenant Governor is a constitutional office, provided for in article I, section I, with other duties and provisions outlined elsewhere in the constitution. For over a century, the Lieutenant Governor's primary duty was to preside over the senate and, except for the matter of succession, was more often identified with the legislature. These legislative duties were frequently limited, however, and gradually declined over the years. State Senators elected from their own ranks the president pro tem, and it was this officer, rather than the Lieutenant Governor, who functioned as the real leader of the Senate. In 1972, a constitutional amendment made the Lieutenant Governor's primary responsibility to serve as part of the executive branch, deleting the provision that the Lieutenant Governor be President of the Senate.

The same 1972 Kansas Constitutional Amendment increased the term of the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor from two to four years, and beginning with the 1974 election, candidates for the office of Governor and Lieutenant Governor have been nominated and elected as part of the same ticket. Theoretically, the person who immediately succeeds the governorship in the event of its vacancy should share the same political views as the predecessor.

The Kansas Supreme Court has held that the absence of the Governor from the state does not entitle the Lieutenant Governor to act as Governor. The Lieutenant Governor becomes Governor only when the office becomes vacant or when the Governor has become disabled. If by chance both the office of the Governor and the office of the Lieutenant Governor become vacant, the president of the Senate will assume the office of Governor. If all three of these offices were to become vacant, the Speaker of the House would be next in line to assume the governorship.

In Kansas, there is no formal provision which mandates a minimum age, state or U.S. citizenship, or years as a qualified voter to hold the office of Lieutenant Governor.

[Office of the Lieutenant Governor. "Brief History." http://www.governor.ks.gov/LtGov/history_brief.htm (accessed 9 April 2009).]

[Secretary of State. Kansas Biennial Report. Secretary of State: Topeka, 1962.]