In politics, Governor of Texas is the title given to the chief executive of the state of Texas. As is the trend in many Southern states, Louisiana excepted, the Governor's power is quite limited. When the office was created by the Texas Constitution of 1876, the authors dispersed much of the power traditionally given to the office of the governor to independently elected officials, creating what some refer to as a "plural executive." [1] With the exception of the Secretary of State, the remaining members of the Governor's cabinet are also elected by popular vote. In addition, because the Lieutenant Governor runs on a separate ticket, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor can be (and have been) from different political parties. In Texas, gubernatorial elections are held in the same year as mid-term elections (when Congressional, but not Presidential, elections are held, i.e. 2002, 2006, 2010,...). As is the case in most states, Texas governors are elected to four-year terms (prior to 1974 they were elected to two-year terms). There are no term limits on the office; current Governor Rick Perry was re-elected to a second full term in 2006 and has not declared whether or not he will run again in 2010 (at the end of his current term, he will be Texas' longest-serving governor, with roughly ten consecutive years in office). A significant limitation on gubernatorial power involves the commutation of prisoner sentences, an issue which arises whenever a death penalty sentence is to be carried out. The Governor can only overturn a death sentence upon the positive recommendation of the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, the Governor can choose to ignore the Board's clemency recommendation and carry out the execution, but the opposite is not true—the Governor cannot commute or overturn a sentence if the Board does not recommend such. The only unilateral option the Governor has is to issue one 30-day stay of execution. The governor does have one key power that the Texas Legislature does not have—the governor can call the Legislature into special session for 30 days, as many times as the governor desires (the Legislature cannot call itself into session). These special sessions can only address issues located on the governor's "call", which can be changed at any time by the governor.
