When the office of Governor shall become vacant, by death or otherwise, the Lieutenant Governor shall possess the powers and discharge the duties of the office. When the Governor shall be absent from the State, or unable, from protracted illness, to perform the duties of the office, the Lieutenant Governor shall discharge the duties of said office until the Governor be able to resume his duties; but if, from disability or otherwise, the Lieutenant Governor shall be incapable of performing said duties, or if he be absent from the State, the President of the Senate Pro Tempore shall act in his stead; but if there be no such President, or if he be disqualified by like disability, or be absent from the state, then the Speaker of the House of Representatives shall assume the office of Governor and perform the duties; and in case of the inability of the foregoing officers to discharge the duties of Governor, the Secretary of State shall convene the Senate to elect a President Pro Tempore. The officer discharging the duties of Governor shall receive as compensation while performing such duties, the compensation to which he is regularly entitled by law for service in the position to which he was elected and, in addition thereto, an amount equal to the difference between such regular compensation and the compensation of the Governor. Should a doubt arise as to whether a vacancy has occurred in the office of Governor or as to whether any one of the disabilities mentioned in this section exists or shall have ended, then the Secretary of State shall submit the question in doubt to the judges of the Supreme Court, who, or a majority of whom, shall investigate and determine the question and shall furnish to the Secretary of State an opinion, in writing, determining the question submitted to them, which opinion, when rendered as aforesaid, shall be final and conclusive.
Footnotes
NOTE: The 1992 amendment of Section 131 in Article 5 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, was proposed by Laws, 1992, ch. 721 (Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 527), and upon ratification by the electorate on November 3, 1992, was inserted as part of the Constitution by proclamation of the Secretary of State on December 8, 1992.
Congratulations! You're now booked up on Article V Section 131 of the Mississippi Constitution!
