1947 – The Modern Constitution of New Jersey Adopted by Constitutional Convention

Article V

Executive

Section I

1. The executive power shall be vested in a Governor.
2. The Governor shall not be less than thirty years of age, and shall have been for at least twenty years a citizen of the United States, and a residentof this State seven years next before his election, unless he shall have been absent during that time on the public business of the United States or of this State.
3. No member of Congress or person holding any office or position, of profit, under this State or the United States shall be Governor. If the Governor or person administering the office of Governor shall accept any other office or position, of profit, under this State or the United States, his office of Governor shall thereby be vacated. No Governor shall be elected by the Legislature to any office during the term for which he shall have been elected Governor.
4. The Governor shall be elected by the legally qualified voters of this State. The person receiving the greatest number of votes shall be the Governor; but if two or more shall be equal and greatest in votes, one of them shall be elected Governor by the vote of a majority of all the members of both houses in joint meeting at the regular legislative session next following the election for Governor by the people. Contested elections for the office of Governor shall be determined in such manner as may be provided by law.
5. The term of office of the Governor shall be four years, beginning at noon of the third Tuesday in January next following his election, and ending at noon of the third Tuesday in January four years thereafter. No person who has been elected Governor for two successive terms, including an unexpired term, shall again be eligible for that office until the third Tuesday in January of the fourth year following the expiration of his second successive term.
6. In the event of a vacancy in the office of Governor resulting from the death, resignation or removal of a Governor in office, or the death of a Governor-elect, or from any other cause, the functions, powers, duties and emoluments of the office shall devolve upon the President of the Senate, for the timebeing, and in the event of his death, resignation or removal, then upon the Speaker of the General Assembly, for the time being; and in the event of his death, resignation or removal, then upon such officers and in such order of succession as may be provided by law; until a new Governor shall be elected and qualify.
7. In the event of the failure of the Governor-elect to qualify, or of the absence from the State of a Governor in office, or his inability to discharge the duties of his office, or his impeachment, the functions, powers, duties and emoluments of the office shall devolve upon the President of the Senate, for the time being; and in the event of his death, resignation, removal, absence, in- ability or impeachment, then upon the Speaker of the General Assembly, for the time being; and in the event of his death, resignation, removal, absence, inability or impeachment, then upon such officers and in such order of succession as may be provided by law; until the Governor-elect shall qualify, or the Governor in office shall return to the State, or shall no longer be unable to discharge the duties of the office, or shall be acquitted, as the case may be, or until a new Governor shall be elected and qualify.
8. Whenever a Governor-elect shall have failed to qualify within six months after the beginning of his term of office, or whenever for a period of six months a Governor in office, or person administering the office, shall have remained continuously absent from the State, or shall have been continuously unable to discharge the duties of his office by reason of mental or physical disability, the office shall be deemed vacant. Such vacancy shall be determined by the Supreme Court upon presentment to it of a concurrent resolution declaring the ground of the vacancy, adopted by a vote of two-thirds of all the members of each house of the Legislature, and upon notice, hearing before the Court and proof of the existence of the vacancy.
9. In the event of a vacancy in the office of Governor, a Governor shall be elected to fill the unexpired term at the general election next succeeding the vacancy, unless the vacancy shall occur within sixty days immediately preceeding a general election, in which case he shall be elected at the second succeeding general election; but no election to fill an unexpired term shall be held in any year in which a Governor is to be elected for a full term. A Governor elected for an unexpired term shall assume his office immediately upon his election.
10. The Governor shall receive for his services a salary, which shall be neither increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected.
11. The Governor shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed. To this end he shall have power, by appropriate action or proceeding in thecourts brought in the name of the State, to enforce compliance with any constitutional or legislative mandate, or to restrain violation of any constitutional or legislative power or duty, by any officer, department or agency of the State;but this power shall not be construed to authorize any action or proceeding against the Legislature.
12. The Governor shall communicate to the Legislature, by message at the opening of each regular session and at such other times as he may deem necessary, the condition of the State, and shall in like manner recommend such measures as he may deem desirable. He may convene the Legislature, or the Senate alone, whenever in his opinion the public interest shall require. He shall be the Commander-in-Chief of all the military and naval forces of the State. He shall grant commissions to all officers elected or appointed pursuant to this Constitution. He shall nominate and appoint, with the advice and consent of the Senate, all officers for whose election or appointment provision is not otherwise made by this Constitution or by law.
13. The Governor may fill any vacancy occurring in any office during a recess of the Legislature, appointment to which may be made by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, or by the Legislature in joint meeting. An ad interim appointment so made shall expire at the end of the next regular session of the Senate, unless a successor shall be sooner appointed and qualify; and after the end of the session no ad interim appointment to the same office shall be made unless the Governor shall have submitted to the Senate a nomination to the office during the session and the Senate shall have adjourned without confirming or rejecting it. No person nominated for any office shall be eligible for an ad interim appointment to such office if the nomination shall have failed of confirmation by the Senate.
    • (a) Every bill which shall have passed both houses shall be presented to the Governor. If he approves he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his objections, to the house in which it shall have originated, which shall enter the objections at large on its journal and proceed to reconsider it. If upon reconsideration, on or after the third day following the return of the bill, two-thirds of all the members of the house of origin shall agree to pass the bill, it shall be sent, together with the objections of the Governor, to the other house, by which it shall be reconsidered and if approved by two-thirds of all the members of that house, it shall become a law; and in all such cases the votes of each house shall be determined by yeas and nays, and the names of the persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the journal of each house respectively. If a bill shall not be returned by the Governor within ten days, Sundays excepted, after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall become a law on the tenth day, unless the house of origin shall on that day be in adjournment. If on the tenth day the house of origin shall be in temporary adjournment in the course of a regular or special session, the bill shall become a law on the day on which the house of origin shall reconvene, unless the Governor shall on that day return the bill tothat house.
    • (b) If on the tenth day the Legislature is in adjournment sine die,the bill shall become a law if the Governor shall sign it within forty-five days, Sundays excepted, after such adjournment. On the said forty-fifth day the bill shall become a law, notwithstanding the failure of the Governor to sign it within the period last stated, unless at or before noon of that day he shall return it with his objections to the house of origin at a special session of the Legislature which shall convene on that day, without petition or call, for the sole purpose of acting pursuant to this paragraph upon bills returned by the Governor. At such special session a bill may be reconsidered beginning on the first day, in the manner provided in this paragraph for the reconsideration of bills, and if approved upon reconsideration by two-thirds of all the members of each house, it shall become a law. The Governor, in returning with his objections a bill for reconsideration at any general or special session of the Legislature, may recommend that an amendment or amendments specified by him be made in the bill, and in such case the Legislature may amend and reenact the bill. If a bill be so amended and re-enacted, it shall be presented again to the Governor, but shall become a law only if he shall sign it within ten days after presentation; and no bill shall be returned by the Governor a second time. A special session of the Legislature shall not be convened pursuant to this paragraph whenever the forty-fifth day, Sundays excepted, after adjournment sine die of a regular or special session shall fall on or afterthe last day of the legislative year in which such adjournment shall have been taken; in which event any bill not signed by the Governor within such forty-five-day period shall not become a law.
14. If any bill presented to the Governor shall contain one or more items of appropriation of money, he may object in whole or in part to any such item or items while approving the other portions of the bill. In such case he shall append to the bill, at the time of signing it, a statement of each item or part thereof to which he objects, and each item or part so objected to shall not take effect. A copy of such statement shall be transmitted by him to the house in which the bill originated, and each item or part thereof objected to shall be separately reconsidered. If upon reconsideration, on or after the third day following said transmittal, one or more of such items or parts thereof be approved by two-thirds of all the members of each house, the same shall become a part of the law, notwithstanding the objections of the Governor. All the provisions of the preceding paragraph in relation to bills not approved by the Governor shall apply to cases in which he shall withhold his approval from any item or items or parts thereof contained in a bill appropriating money.

Section II

1. The Governor may grant pardons and reprieves in all cases other than impeachment and treason, and may suspend and remit fines and forfeitures. A commission or other body may be established by law to aid and advise the Governor in the exercise of executive clemency.
2. A system for the granting of parole shall be provided by law.

Section III

1. Provision for organizing, inducting, training, arming, disciplining and regulating a militia shall be made by law, which shall conform to applicable standards established for the armed forces of the United States.
2. The Governor shall nominate and appoint all general and flag officers of the militia, with the advice and consent of the Senate. All other commissioned officers of the militia shall be appointed and commissioned by the Governor according to law.

Section IV

1. All executive and administrative offices, departments, and instrumentalities of the State government, including the offices of Secretary of State and Attorney General, and their respective functions, powers and duties, shall be allocated by law among and within not more than twenty principal departments, in such manner as to group the same according to major purposes so far as practicable. Temporary commissions for special purposes may, however, be established by law and such commissions need not be allocated within a principal department.
2. Each principal department shall be under the supervision of the Governor. The head of each principal department shall be a single executive unless otherwise provided by law. Such single executives shall be nominated and appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, to serve at the pleasure of the Governor during his term of office and until the appointment and qualification of their successors, except as herein otherwise provided with respect to the Secretary of State and the Attorney General.
3. The Secretary of State and the Attorney General shall be nominated and appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate toserve during the term of office of the Governor.
4. Whenever a board, commission or other body shall be the head of a principal department, the members thereof shall be nominated and appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate, and may be removed in the manner provided by law. Such a board, commission or other body may appoint a principal executive officer when authorized by law, but the appointment shall be subject to the approval of the Governor. Any principal executive officer so appointed shall be removable by the Governor, uponnotice and an opportunity to be heard.
5. The Governor may cause an investigation to be made of the conduct in office of any officer or employee who receives his compensation from the State of New Jersey, except a member, officer or employee of the Legislature or an officer elected by the Senate and General Assembly in joint meeting, or a judicial officer. He may require such officers or employees to submit to him a written statement or statements, under oath, of such information as he may call for relating to the conduct of their respective offices or employments. After notice, the service of charges and an opportunity to be heard at public hearing the Governor may remove any such officer or employee for cause. Such officer or employee shall have the right of judicial review, on both the law and the facts, in such manner as shall be provided by law.
6. No rule or regulation made by any department, officer, agency or authority of this State, except such as relates to the organization or internal management of the State government or a part thereof, shall take effect until it is filed either with the Secretary of State or in such other manner as may be provided by law. The Legislature shall provide for the prompt publication of such rules and regulations.