The Governor’s Powers

The Midterms are almost upon us and you know what that means? You’ll need to pick your fave for Governor.

But what exactly does the Governor do anyway?

As the state’s top elected official, Illinois’ Governor can do a bunch of important things that impact how well the state works and how regular people can access programs and services. The biggies are that the Governor gets to appoint leaders for state agencies, help shape state policy and laws, and grant pardons.

Let’s start with the basics: just like the U.S. federal government, the Illinois state government has three main branches: executive, legislative, and judiciary. The Governor of Illinois is one of six elected members of Illinois’ executive branch. The others are: the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, the Secretary of State, the Comptroller, and the Treasurer. If you aren’t quite sure what all of those folks do, don’t worry, we will have an article explaining that too!

The Illinois state constitution grants the Governor “supreme executive power” and while that sounds very “The Force Awakens”, it just assigns the Governor the responsibility to enforce state laws. The state constitution goes on to give the Governor five key powers in order to actually exert authority and enforce laws:

• appointing people to state agencies,
• reorganizing state agencies,
• granting pardons,
• helping set the legislative agenda with an annual message,
• and the power to sign or veto bills passed by the legislature.

Now let’s get on to the good stuff and learn more about each of these powers.

1. Appointment & Removal Power

The Governor picks the leaders for all government agencies, commissions, and boards where the state constitution doesn’t outline another process for them to be chosen. These appointees advise the Governor about policy and also help ensure that the Governor’s priorities are carried out by their agencies or commissions. This appointment power is pretty broad, including agencies like:

• the Illinois State Police (they are responsible for things like patrolling the state’s highways, issuing Firearm Owner Identification Cards, issuing Amber alerts, and maintaining the state sex offender registry),
• the Illinois Commerce Commission (they regulate utilities like power, gas, water, etc.),
• the Board of Higher Education (they work to make college accessible to everyone, including things like advocating on behalf of the Monetary Award Program to the Illinois General Assembly),
• and a whole bunch more!

But that power isn’t absolute. The Illinois Senate gets to advise and consent on the Governor’s nominees for appointments, just like the U.S. Senate gets to advise and consent on appointments made by the U.S. President. After the Governor nominates someone to fill a position, the Illinois Senate has 60 days to weigh in, and if they don’t like a nominee then they can prevent the appointment through a simple majority vote. If the Governor appoints someone when the Illinois legislature is not in session, they are just an interim appointee and once the legislature is back in session, the Governor has to use the normal nominating procedure, and get the consent of the Illinois Senate. If the Governor nominates someone who is not confirmed by the Illinois Senate, they can’t be nominated again in the future, or serve as a temporary appointee. The Governor can also remove any appointee from office if they have engaged in abuse, neglect or some other form of misconduct.

2. Agency Organization & Reorganization Power

Since state agencies play such a big role in providing services and information to the state’s residents and visitors, another important Gubernatorial power is being able to organize or reorganize a state agency using an “Executive Order.” Sometimes the Governor can just release an Executive Order to reorganize an agency, or form a new task force or commission, and that’s that (they do, after all, have that “The Force Awakens” level executive power we mentioned). That’s how the Governor’s Opioid Prevention and Intervention Task Force got started in 2017. But, the Governor has to get approval from the Illinois legislature if there is already a law on the books that the Executive Order would impact. When that happens, the Illinois General Assembly has 60 days after the Governor submits an Executive Order to respond. If both chambers (the Illinois House and Illinois Senate) approve the Executive Order with a simple majority then the reorganization is carried out. But, if it fails to pass in either chamber, then the reorganization is disapproved and nothing happens.

3. Pardon Power

In Illinois, the Governor, and the Governor alone, can grant a pardon, or commute a sentence (immediately end a sentence and release the inmate) for any criminal offense, as long as the conviction was in the state court system. Most petitions for clemency are not granted. In 2017, Governor Bruce Rauner received just over 100 petitions for clemency, and granted just 5. In recent years, both Governor Rauner, and his predecessor Governor Pat Quinn worked to clear a big backlog of clemency petitions left by impeached Governor Rod Blagojevich.

4. Legislative Message Power

The state constitution gives the Governor the power to give an annual address to the Illinois legislature at the start of each session. In this Legislative Message, the Governor reports on how Illinois is doing, what could be improved, and what steps the legislature could take to improve the state’s condition. Though this power is not as direct as the Governor’s bill signing and veto power, it can help shape public policy and lawmaking.

5. Bill Signing & Veto Power

The Governor’s bill signing and veto power is a really big deal because it gives the Governor a lot of power in the state lawmaking process. In brief, once the Illinois General Assembly passes a bill (any kind of bill), the Governor reviews it and either signs it into law, or sends it back to the General Assembly with one of 4 types of veto action. The General Assembly always has a chance to overturn a veto action, but they have to have more votes to overturn a veto than they did to pass the bill in the first place.

BONUS! The Governor’s Emergency Power

In addition to the powers laid out in the state constitution, Illinois’ Governor has the power to suspend normal activity or laws during a state of emergency.

Limits on the Governor’s Power

Even though the state constitution gives the Governor “supreme executive power,” there are still some limits on that power. If there are suspicions of wrongdoing, the Illinois House of Representatives has the power to launch an investigation and to vote to impeach (remove from office) the Governor. If the Illinois House does vote to impeach, then there is an impeachment trial in the Illinois Senate and the Chief Justice of the Illinois Supreme Court presides at that trial. It requires a ⅔ majority vote from the Illinois Senate to finalize impeachment.

Incidentally, the Illinois House can also investigate and vote to impeach any elected executive officer (Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Comptroller, and Treasurer) and any sitting judges or justices in the state court system. Just like with the Governor, that’s followed by a trial in the Illinois Senate, and requires a ⅔ vote for impeachment to happen.

Make a plan to vote!

Now that you have a better handle on what Illinois’ Governor actually does, the next step is to research the 2018 Gubernatorial candidates on BallotReady and make a plan to vote! You can also sign up to host or attend a Ballot Party this fall, where you can learn more about your whole ballot while having fun!