# Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 1874/Article 4

This edition is taken from the Pennsylvania Constitution Webpage at Duquesne University School of Law.

## Article 4: The Executive
### Section 1: Executive officers.

The Executive Department of this Commonwealth shall consist of a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Attorney General, Auditor General, State Treasurer, Secretary of Internal Affairs and Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 2: Governor. His election. Returns of election. Contested elections.

The supreme executive power shall be vested in the Governor, who shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed; he shall be chosen on the day of the general election, by the qualified electors of the Commonwealth, at the places where they shall vote for Representatives. The returns of every election for Governor shall be sealed up and transmitted to the seat of government, directed to the President of the Senate, who shall open and publish them in the presence of the members of both Houses of the General Assembly. The person having the highest number of votes shall be Governor, but if two or more be equal and highest in votes, one of them shall be chosen Governor by the joint vote of the members of both Houses. Contested elections shall be determined by a committee, to be selected from both Houses of the General Assembly, and formed and regulated in such manner as shall be directed by law.

### Section 3: Term of the Governor.

The Governor shall hold his office during four years from the third Tuesday of January next ensuing his election, and shall not be eligible to the office for the next succeeding term.
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 4: The Lieutenant Governor.

A Lieutenant Governor shall be chosen at the same time, in the same manner, for the same term, and subject to the same provisions as the Governor; he shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote unless they be equally divided.
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 5: Qualifications of Governor and Lieutenant Governor.

No person shall be eligible to the office of Governor or Lieutenant Governor except a citizen of the United States, who shall have attained the age of thirty years, and have been seven years next preceding his election an inhabitant of the State, unless he shall have been absent on the public business of the United States or of this State.
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 6: Congressmen, &c., disqualified.

No member of Congress or person holding any office any office under the United States or this State shall exercise the office of Governor or Lieutenant Governor.
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 7: Governor to command militia.

The Governor shall be commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the Commonwealth, and of the militia, except when they shall be called into actual service of the United States.
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 8: Power of Governor to appoint with consent of Senate. To fill vacancies. Senate to act on nominations with open doors. Votes to be recorded.

He shall nominate and, by and with the advice and consent of two-thirds of all the members of the Senate, appoint a Secretary of the Commonwealth and an Attorney General during pleasure, a Superintendent of Public Instruction for four years, and such other officers of the Commonwealth as he is or may be authorized by the Constitution or by law to appoint; he shall have power to fill all vacancies that may happen, in offices to which he may appoint, during the recess of the Senate, by granting commissions which shall expire at the end of their next session: he shall have power to fill any vacancy that may happen, during the recess of the Senate, in the office of Auditor General, State Treasurer, Secretary of Internal Affairs or Superintendent of Public Instruction, in a judicial office, or in any other elective office which he is or may be authorized to fill; if the vacancy shall happen during session of the Senate, the Governor shall nominate to the Senate, before their final adjournment, a proper person to fill said vacancy; but in any such case of vacancy, in an elective office, a person shall be chosen to said office at the next general election, unless the vacancy shall happen within three calendar months immediately preceding such election, in which case the election for said office shall be held at the second succeeding general election. In acting on Executive nominations the Senate shall sit with open doors, and, in confirming or rejecting the nominations of the Governor, the vote shall be taken by yeas and nays, and shall be entered on the journal.
Amendment of November 2, 1909
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 9: Pardoning power.

He shall have power to remit fines and forfeitures, to grant reprieves, commutation of sentence and pardons, except in cases of impeachment; but no pardon shall be granted, nor sentence commuted, except upon the recommendation in writing of the Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Attorney General and Secretary of Internal Affairs, or any three of them, after full hearing, upon due public notice and in open session, and such recommendation , with the reasons therefor at length, shall be recorded and filed in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 10: Governor may require information from Executive officers.

He may require information in writing from the officers of the Executive Department, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices.
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 11: Shall give information and recommend measures to General Assembly.

He shall, from time to time, give to the General Assembly information of the state of the Commonwealth, and recommend to their consideration such measures as he may judge expedient.

### Section 12: May convene General Assembly and adjourn the two Houses when they disagree.

He may, on extraordinary occasions, convene the General Assembly, and in case of disagreement between the two Houses, with respect to the time of adjournment, adjourn them to such time as he shall think proper, not exceeding four months. He shall have power to convene the Senate in extraordinary session by proclamation for the transaction of Executive business.

### Section 13: Lieutenant Governor to act as Governor.

In the case of the death, conviction on impeachment, failure to qualify, resignation, or other disability of the Governor, the powers, duties and emoluments of the office, for the remainder of the term, or until the disability be removed, shall devolve upon the Lieutenant Governor.
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 14: President pro temp of the Senate.

In case of a vacancy in the office of Lieutenant Governor, or when the Lieutenant Governor shall be impeached by the House of Representatives, or shall be unable to exercise the duties of his office, the powers, duties, and emoluments thereof for the remainder of the term, or until the disability be removed, shall devolve upon the President pro tempore of the Senate; and the President pro tempore of the Senate shall in like manner become Governor if a vacancy or disability shall occur in the office of Governor; 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.
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 15: Approval of bills. Vetoes. Retained bills to become law. Exception.

Every bill which shall have passed both Houses shall be presented to the Governor; if he approve, he shall sign it, but if he shall not approve he shall return it with his objections to the House in which it shall have originated, which House shall enter the objections at large upon their journal, and proceed to re-consider it. If, after such re-consideration, two-thirds of all the members elected to that House shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent with the objections to the other House by which likewise it shall be re-considered, and if approved by two-thirds of all the members elected to that House it shall be a law; but in such cases the votes of both Houses shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the members voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journals of each House, respectively. If any bill shall not be returned by the Governor within ten days after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it, unless the General Assembly, by their adjournment, prevent its return, in which case it shall be a law, unless he shall file the same, with his objections, in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, and give notice thereof by public proclamation within thirty days after such adjournment.

### Section 16: A partial veto allowed on appropriation bills.

The Governor shall have power to disapprove of any item or items of any bill, making appropriations of money, embracing distinct items, and the part or parts of the bill approved shall be the law, and the item or items of appropriation disapproved shall be void, unless re-passed according to the rules and limitations prescribed for the passage of other bills over the Executive veto.

### Section 17: Chief Justice to preside on trial of contested election of Governor or Lieutenant Governor.

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside upon the trial of any contested election of Governor or Lieutenant Governor 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 and Lieutenant Governor shall exercise the duties of their respective offices until their successors shall be duly qualified.

### Section 18: Secretary of Commonwealth.

The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall keep a record of all official acts and proceedings of the Governor, and when required lay the same, with all papers, minutes and vouchers relating thereto, before either branch of the General Assembly, and perform such other duties as may be enjoined upon by law.
Repealed on May 16, 1967
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Section 19: Secretary of Internal Affairs.

Section 19. The Secretary of Internal Affairs shall exercise all of the powers and perform all the duties of the Surveyor General, subject to such changes as shall be made by law. His department shall embrace a bureau of industrial statistics, and he shall discharge such duties relating to corporations, to the charitable institutions, the agricultural, manufacturing, mining, mineral, timber and other material or business interests of the State as may be prescribed by law. He shall annually, and at such other times as may be required by law, make report to the General Assembly.
Repealed on May 16, 1967

### Section 20: Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall exercise all the powers and perform all the duties of the Superintendent of the Common Schools, subject to such changes as shall be made by law.
Repealed on May 16, 1967

### Section 21: Terms of heads of departments.

The term of the Secretary of Internal Affairs shall be four years; of the Auditor General three years; and of the State Treasurer two years. These officers shall be chosen by the qualified electors of the State at general elections. No person elected to the office of Auditor General or State Treasurer shall be capable of holding the same office for two consecutive terms.
Amendment of November 9, 1909
Amendment of November 7, 1961
Repealed on May 16, 1967

### Section 22: Seal of state. Commissions to be signed and sealed.

The present Great Seal of Pennsylvania shall be the seal of the State. All commissions shall be in the name and by authority of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and be sealed with the State seal and signed by the Governor.
Amendment of May 16, 1967

### Schedule

Schedule, added by Amendment of May 16, 1967