Governor of Illinois | |
---|---|
Residence | Illinois Executive Mansion |
Term length | Four years, no term limits |
Inaugural holder | Shadrach Bond |
Formation | October 2, 1818 |
Salary | $177,412 (2015)^α |
Website | www |
The Governor of Illinois is the chief executive of the State of Illinois and the various agencies and departments over which the officer has jurisdiction, as prescribed in the state constitution. It is a directly elected position, votes being cast by popular suffrage of residents of the state. The governor is responsible for enacting laws passed by the Illinois General Assembly. Illinois is one of 14 states with no gubernatorial term-limit. The current governor is Republican Bruce Rauner, who succeeded Pat Quinn in 2015.
The term of office of Governor of Illinois is four years, and there is no limit on the number of terms a governor may serve. Inauguration takes place on the second Monday in January following a gubernatorial election. A single term ends four years later. A governor is required to be:
The Governor of Illinois resides in the Illinois Executive Mansion at 410 East Jackson in Springfield. Its first occupant was Governor Joel Aldrich Matteson. He took residence at the mansion in 1855. It is one of three oldest governor's residences in continuous use in the United States.
The governor is also given the use of an official residence on the state fair grounds, also located in Springfield. Governors have traditionally used this residence part of the year.
However, some governors, such as Rod Blagojevich, have chosen to not use the governor's homes as their primary residence, instead commuting either by car or plane to Springfield from their home cities. Many Chicago-based governors also have done much of their business out of the governor's office in Chicago's James R. Thompson Center, an office building owned by the state named for former governor James R. Thompson (1977-1991) Illinois' longest-serving governor.