Editing Governor of California (section)

== Relationship with the lieutenant governor ==
[[File:California Grizzly Bear Statue Capitol Museum (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|Bronze statue of a [[California grizzly bear]] outside the governor's office, in the [[California Capitol]].]]
The [[Lieutenant Governor of California|lieutenant governor of California]] is separately elected during the same election, not jointly as the [[running mate]] of the gubernatorial candidate. As such, California had governors and  lieutenant governors of different parties for nearly 27 of the 33 years between 1978 and 2011, whereas previously, this had only occurred in 1875, 1887, 1895 and 1916–1917 due to the resignation or death of an incumbent governor or lieutenant governor.

This occasionally becomes significant, since the California Constitution provides that all the powers of the governor fall to the lieutenant governor whenever the governor is not in the state of California, with the lieutenant governor sometimes signing or vetoing legislation or making political appointments whenever the governor leaves the state.

In practice, there is a [[gentlemen's agreement]] for the lieutenant governor not to perform more than perfunctory duties while the governor is away from the state: this [[Mike Curb#Political career|agreement was violated]] when [[Mike Curb]] was in office, as he signed several executive orders at odds with the [[Jerry Brown|Brown administration]] when Brown was out of the state. Court rulings have upheld the lieutenant governor's right to perform the duties and assume all of the prerogatives of governor while the governor is out of the state.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=In re Governorship|vol=26 |reporter=Cal.3d |opinion=110 |pinpoint=401 |court=Supreme Court of California |date=1979 |url=http://login.findlaw.com/scripts/callaw?dest=ca/cal3d/26/110.html |quote=we conclude that the Lieutenant Governor has authority to exercise all gubernatorial powers of appointment while the Governor is physically absent from the state and that the Governor has authority to withdraw the appointment until the confirmation of appointment becomes effective.}}</ref>

The lieutenant governor is also the president of the California State Senate.