The Governor of the State of Nevada is an elected Constitutional officer, the head of the Executive branch, and the highest state office in Nevada. The Governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and is limited to two terms.

As of March 2015, Nevada is one of 19 states that is under divided government and is therefore not one of the state government trifectas.

Vacancies

Anytime the elected Governor dies, resigns, in impeached, or is temporarily or permanently unable to discharge the office, the powers and duties of the governorship shall devolve to the Lieutenant Governor of Nevada.

The Lieutenant Governor also serves as Acting Governor when the Governor is absent, unless the latter is absent in order to lead the state's militia and has done so with the consent of the legislature, in which case he remains the Governor while actively serving as commander-in-chief.

Duties

The Governor is commander-in-chief of the state military forces. The governor appoints department heads and members of boards and commissions.

The governor has the power to veto bills from the Nevada State Legislature. The Legislature can override a veto by a two-thirds majority vote in both the Assembly and the Senate. [2]

Law-enforcement powers include the ability to grant pardons, commute sentences, and remiss fines and forfeitures, as well as serving as the commander-in-chief of the military forces in the state, except when they are called into service of the United States.[3][4]

Only the Governor may call a special session of the Legislature, wherein the Legislature cannot introduce, consider or pass any bills except those related to the business for which the Legislature has been specially convened and those necessary to provide for the expenses of the session. [5]

The Governor also has power to adjourn the Legislature in case of a disagreement between the two Houses with respect to the time of adjournment.[6]

Other duties and privileges of the office include:

Conducting all executive business with both civil and military officers (§ 6)

Filling all vacancies not otherwise Constitutionally provided for (§ 8)

Delivering a state of the state address to the legislature at each regular session (§ 10)

Suspending the collection of fines and forfeitures and granting reprieves of not more than 60 days (§ 13)

Granting pardons, not to extend to convictions for treason or impeachment, and commuting sentences, not to include sentences of life without parole (§ 14)

Keeping and using the Great Seal of the State of Nevada (§ 15)

Signing all commissions granted by the state of Nevada (§ 16)

Elections

Nevada state government organizational chart

Nevada elects governors in the midterm elections, that is, even years that are not Presidential election years. For Nevada, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018 are all gubernatorial election years. Legally, the gubernatorial inauguration is always set for the first Monday in the January following an election. Thus, January 3, 2011 and January 5, 2015 are inaugural days.

Term limits

nor shall any person be elected to the Office of Governor more than twice; and no person who has held the Office of Governor, or acted as Governor for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected Governor shall be elected to the Office of Governor more than once.

Gubernatorial removal

There are two methods available to remove a governor before the expiration of the gubernatorial term of office.

Recall

Petitions signed by Nevada voters equal in number to 25% of the last vote for the office of governor. If the governor does not resign within five days of the petition's filing, a special election will be held in 30 days to determine whether the governor shall be recalled.[8]

Partisan composition

The chart below shows the partisan breakdown of Nevada State Governors from 1992-2013.

Full History

To view the electoral history dating back to 2002 for the office of Governor of Nevada, Click [show] to expand the section.

Divisions

Note: Ballotpedia's state executive officials project researches state official websites for information that describes the divisions (if any exist) of a state executive office. That information for the Governor of Nevada has not yet been added. After extensive research we were unable to identify any relevant information on state official websites. If you have any additional information about this office for inclusion on this section and/or page, please email us.

State budget

The budget for the Governor's office in Fiscal Year 2012-13 was $2,399,335.[9]

Compensation

On January 3, 2011, and on the first Monday of every fourth year thereafter, the pay level will increase by an amount equal to the cumulative percentage increase in the salaries of the classified Nevada Employees during the Governor's previous term.[10]

History

Partisan balance 1992-2013

From 1992-2013, in Nevada there were Democratic governors in office for the first seven years while there were Republican governors in office for the last 15 years.

Across the country, there were 493 years of Democratic governors (44.82%) and 586 years of Republican governors (53.27%) from 1992-2013.

Over the course of the 22-year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan. At the outset of the study period (1992), 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments. In 2013, only 13 states have divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied.

SQLI and partisanship

The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Nevada state government and the state's SQLI ranking for the years studied. For the SQLI, the states were ranked from 1-50, with 1 being the best and 50 the worst. During the study, Nevada had one Democratic trifecta during 1992. The state's SQLI rankings were high for the majority of the study, finishing in the top-10 from 1996-1997 and from 2005-2006. However, Nevada's SQLI ranking declined from then on, finishing 46th in 2012. Both its highest and lowest rankings occurred when the government was divided between Democratic and Republican control.

Chart displaying the partisanship of the Nevada government from 1992-2013 and the State Quality of Life Index (SQLI).

Historical officeholders

There have been 30 Governors of Nevada since 1864. Of the 30 officeholders, 15 were Republican, 12 were Democrat, 2 were Silver, and 1 was Silver-Democratic etc.[12][13]