Bill Text: PA HB919 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: A Joint Resolution proposing integrated amendments to the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, eliminating the office of Lieutenant Governor and providing for State Treasurer.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 3-1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-03-03 - Referred to STATE GOVERNMENT [HB919 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2011-HB919-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 982
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No. 919 Session of2011
INTRODUCED BY GIBBONS, GROVE, MARSHALL AND MURT, MARCH 3, 2011
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, MARCH 3, 2011
A JOINT RESOLUTION
Proposing integrated amendments to the Constitution of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, eliminating the office of
Lieutenant Governor and providing for State Treasurer.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby resolves as follows:
Section 1. The following integrated amendments to the
Constitution of Pennsylvania are proposed in accordance with
Article XI:
(1) That section 1 of Article IV be amended to read:
§ 1. Executive Department.
The Executive Department of this Commonwealth shall consist
of a Governor, [Lieutenant Governor,] Attorney General, Auditor
General, State Treasurer, and Superintendent of Public
Instruction and such other officers as the General Assembly may
from time to time prescribe.
(2) That section 4 of Article IV be amended to read:
§ 4. [Lieutenant Governor] State Treasurer.
A [Lieutenant Governor] State Treasurer shall be chosen
jointly with the Governor by the casting by each voter of a
single vote applicable to both offices, for the same term, and
subject to the same provisions as the Governor[; he shall be
President of the Senate. As such, he may vote in case of a tie
on any question except the final passage of a bill or joint
resolution, the adoption of a conference report or the
concurrence in amendments made by the House of Representatives].
(3) That section 5 of Article IV be amended to read:
§ 5. Qualifications of Governor, [Lieutenant Governor] State
Treasurer and Attorney General.
No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor,
[Lieutenant Governor] State Treasurer or Attorney General except
a citizen of the United States, who shall have attained the age
of 30 years, and have been seven years next preceding his
election an inhabitant of this Commonwealth, unless he shall
have been absent on the public business of the United States or
of this Commonwealth. No person shall be eligible to the office
of Attorney General except a member of the bar of the Supreme
Court of Pennsylvania.
(4) That section 6 of Article IV be amended to read:
§ 6. Disqualification for offices of Governor, [Lieutenant
Governor] State Treasurer and Attorney General.
No member of Congress or person holding any office (except of
attorney-at-law or in the National Guard or in a reserve
component of the armed forces of the United States) under the
United States or this Commonwealth shall exercise the office of
Governor, [Lieutenant Governor] State Treasurer or Attorney
General.
(5) That section 9 of Article IV be amended to read:
§ 9. Pardoning power; Board of Pardons.
(a) In all criminal cases except impeachment the Governor
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shall have power to remit fines and forfeitures, to grant
reprieves, commutation of sentences and pardons; but no pardon
shall be granted, nor sentence commuted, except on the
recommendation in writing of a majority of the Board of Pardons,
and, in the case of a sentence of death or life imprisonment, on
the unanimous recommendation in writing of the Board of Pardons,
after full hearing in open session, upon due public notice. The
recommendation, with the reasons therefor at length, shall be
delivered to the Governor and a copy thereof shall be kept on
file in the office of the [Lieutenant Governor] Attorney General
in a docket kept for that purpose.
(b) The Board of Pardons shall consist of the [Lieutenant
Governor who shall be chairman, the] Attorney General and
[three] four members appointed by the Governor with the consent
of a majority of the members elected to the Senate for terms of
six years. One of the members shall be appointed as chairman by
the Governor. The [three] members appointed by the Governor
shall be residents of Pennsylvania. One shall be a crime victim,
one shall be a member of the bar, one a corrections expert and
the [third] fourth a doctor of medicine, psychiatrist or
psychologist. The board shall keep records of its actions, which
shall at all times be open for public inspection.
(6) That section 13 of Article IV be amended to read:
§ 13. When [Lieutenant Governor] State Treasurer to act as
Governor.
In the case of the death, conviction on impeachment, failure
to qualify or resignation of the Governor, the [Lieutenant
Governor] State Treasurer shall become Governor for the
remainder of the term and in the case of the disability of the
Governor, the powers, duties and emoluments of the office shall
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devolve upon the [Lieutenant Governor] State Treasurer until the
disability is removed. Should there be no State Treasurer, the
Auditor General shall become Governor if a vacancy shall occur
in the office of Governor and in case of the disability of the
Governor, the powers, duties and emoluments of the office shall
devolve upon the Auditor General until the disability is
removed. The order of succession to the office of Governor shall
be the State Treasurer, the Auditor General and then the
Attorney General. Should the State Treasurer, Auditor General or
Attorney General succeed to the Office of the Governor, the
office shall be vacant and shall be filled by election as
provided for that respective office.
(7) That section 14 of Article IV be repealed:
[§ 14. Vacancy in office of Lieutenant Governor.
In case of the death, conviction on impeachment, failure to
qualify or resignation of the Lieutenant Governor, or in case he
should become Governor under section 13 of this article, the
President pro tempore of the Senate shall become Lieutenant
Governor for the remainder of the term. In case of the
disability of the Lieutenant Governor, the powers, duties and
emoluments of the office shall devolve upon the President pro
tempore of the Senate until the disability is removed. Should
there be no Lieutenant Governor, the President pro tempore of
the Senate shall become Governor if a vacancy shall occur in the
office of Governor and in case of the disability of the
Governor, the powers, duties and emoluments of the office shall
devolve upon the President pro tempore of the Senate until the
disability is removed. His seat as Senator shall become vacant
whenever he shall become Governor and shall be filled by
election as any other vacancy in the Senate.]
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(8) That section 17 of Article IV be amended to read:
§ 17. Contested elections of Governor, [Lieutenant Governor]
State Treasurer and Attorney General; when succeeded.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside upon the
trial of any contested election of Governor, [Lieutenant
Governor] State Treasurer or Attorney General and shall decide
questions regarding the admissibility of evidence, and shall,
upon request of the committee, pronounce his opinion upon other
questions of law involved in the trial. The Governor,
[Lieutenant Governor] State Treasurer and Attorney General shall
exercise the duties of their respective offices until their
successors shall be duly qualified.
(9) That section 18 of Article IV be amended to read:
§ 18. [Terms] Term of office of Auditor General [and State
Treasurer]; number of terms; eligibility of State
Treasurer to become Auditor General.
The [terms] term of the Auditor General [and of the State
Treasurer] shall [each] be four years from the third Tuesday of
January next ensuing his election. [They] He shall be chosen by
the qualified electors of the Commonwealth at general elections
but shall not be eligible to serve continuously for more than
two successive terms. The State Treasurer shall not be eligible
to the office of Auditor General until four years after he has
been State Treasurer.
(10) That section 7 of Article VI be amended to read:
§ 7. Removal of civil officers.
All civil officers shall hold their offices on the condition
that they behave themselves well while in office, and shall be
removed on conviction of misbehavior in office or of any
infamous crime. Appointed civil officers, other than judges of
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the courts of record, may be removed at the pleasure of the
power by which they shall have been appointed. All civil
officers elected by the people, except the Governor, the
[Lieutenant Governor] State Treasurer, members of the General
Assembly and judges of the courts of record, shall be removed by
the Governor for reasonable cause, after due notice and full
hearing, on the address of two-thirds of the Senate.
Section 2. (a) Upon the first passage by the General
Assembly of these proposed constitutional amendments, the
Secretary of the Commonwealth shall proceed immediately to
comply with the advertising requirements of section 1 of Article
XI of the Constitution of Pennsylvania and shall transmit the
required advertisements to two newspapers in every county in
which such newspapers are published in sufficient time after
passage of these proposed constitutional amendments.
(b) Upon the second passage by the General Assembly of these
proposed constitutional amendments, the Secretary of the
Commonwealth shall proceed immediately to comply with the
advertising requirements of section 1 of Article XI of the
Constitution of Pennsylvania and shall transmit the required
advertisements to two newspapers in every county in which such
newspapers are published in sufficient time after passage of
these proposed constitutional amendments. The Secretary of the
Commonwealth shall submit the proposed constitutional amendments
under section 1 to the qualified electors of this Commonwealth
as a single ballot question at the first primary, general or
municipal election which meets the requirements of and is in
conformance with section 1 of Article XI of the Constitution of
Pennsylvania and which occurs at least three months after the
proposed constitutional amendments are passed by the General
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Assembly.
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