A proposed constitutional amendment would create a mechanism for replacing the state’s lieutenant governor more quickly should the office become vacant.
Currently, the state constitution has a provision for replacing both the governor and lieutenant governor in a situation where both offices are vacant at the same time. But it doesn’t consider a scenario where the lieutenant governor’s seat is vacant because he or she replaces the governor, dies, resigns or is removed from office.
“The lieutenant governor’s office could basically be vacant for four years,” bill sponsor Sen. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville, said in a Senate committee last week.
Senate Bill 271 is one of a few related to the lieutenant governor’s office filed by Givhan this session. It would allow voters to decide whether the constitution should be changed to permit a lieutenant governor election during a presidential election, rather than waiting an additional two years for the next election of state constitutional officers.
The bill was approved in a Senate committee on Wednesday and awaits a vote in that chamber.
During the committee meeting, Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, spoke in support of the legislation. If the lieutenant governor’s seat is vacant, its duties are assumed by the Senate president pro tem. That happened in 2017 when then-Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey replaced Robert Bentley as governor after his resignation.
“Some of us were here when (Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh) had to assume the chair for almost two full years,” Orr said. “It is a real problem to run the Senate if they’re (wearing) two hats.”
While Givhan’s bill has been linked to conversations about John Wahl, a Republican candidate for the state’s second-highest post, Givhan said it isn’t a direct result of the former ALGOP chairman’s entrance into the race last month.
Givhan said there have been discussions during his two-term tenure in the Legislature about how to address a vacancy in the office.
Givhan is also the sponsor of Senate Bill 22 and Senate Bill 39, both of which would require the Senate president pro tem, not the lieutenant governor, make Senate appointments to various boards and commissions.
“If it’s good for the Speaker of the House to make an appointment of a (House member), the corollary to that is the pro tem, not the lieutenant governor,” Givhan said when discussing the bills in a Senate committee last month.
Both those bills have passed the Senate and a House committee and await a House vote.