This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2018) |
Governor of Oklahoma | |
---|---|
since January 14, 2019 | |
Government of Oklahoma | |
Style |
|
Status | |
Residence | Oklahoma Governor's Mansion |
Term length | Four years, renewable once |
Inaugural holder | Charles N. Haskell |
Formation | November 16, 1907 |
Deputy | Lieutenant Governor |
Salary | $147,000 (2013)[1] |
Website | Official website |
The governor of Oklahoma is the head of government of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Under the Oklahoma Constitution, the governor serves as the head of the Oklahoma executive branch, of the government of Oklahoma. The governor is the ex officio commander-in-chief of the Oklahoma National Guard when not called into federal use. Despite being an executive branch official, the governor also holds legislative and judicial powers. The governor's responsibilities include making yearly "State of the State" addresses to the Oklahoma Legislature, submitting the annual state budget, ensuring that state laws are enforced, and that the peace is preserved. The governor's term is four years in length.
The office was created in 1907 when Oklahoma was officially admitted to the federal Union of the United States as the 46th state, by act of the Congress of the United States and approval by the President. Prior to statehood, the chief executive office was preceded by a presidential appointed and confirmed by the United States Senate of the previous governors of the old Oklahoma Territory (1890-1907) in the western portion of the current state with similar powers. Since 1834 to 1907, in the eastern portion of modern Oklahoma state was the unorganized former Indian Territory, originally encompassed a much larger tract of unassigned public lands west of the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, reserved for various Native Americans / Indian tribes and nations, removed and transported from the Southeastern United States in the 1830s during the infamous "Trail of Tears". A federal judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, centered in the border town of Fort Smith, exercised judicial powers and sent individual and posses of U.S. Marshals and deputy Marshals to patrol that Territory in lieu of an appointed territorial Governor or other local law enforcement, governing structure or organized territorial government such as the several other federal territories in the Western United States (and later further away of territories of Alaska and Hawaii overseas), during the 19th and early 20th centuries, except for various Indian tribal police on the designated reservations.
The 28th and current Governor of Oklahoma is Kevin Stitt, a member of the Republican Party.[2]