CHAPTER 488

An Act to amend and reenact § 24-150 of the Code of Virginia, relating
to discharge of the duties of the office of Governor in the event of a

vacancy therein. rt 304)
4

Approved March 31, 1960

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
ae That § 24-150 of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted as
ollows:

§ 24-150. When vacancies occur in the offices of Governor and Lieu-
tenant Governor, the duties of the office of Governor shall be discharged
by the Attorney General, if elected by the people, or if the Attorney Gen-
eral holds office by appointment, or be ineligible, then by the Speaker of
the House of Delegates, or if the office of Speaker of the House of Dele-
gates be vacant or the Speaker be ineligible, then by the President pro
tempore of the Senate, or if the Senate be not in session, then by the
person who was President pro tempore at the close of the last preceding
session, * until a Governor is elected and qualified. In the event of vacan-
cies in all of the offices mentioned in the preceding sentence, the office of
acting Governor shall devolve upon the chairmen of the standing com-
mittees of the House of Delegates and the Senate, alternating between the
House and the Senate, in the order of seniority as set forth in Rule 16 of
the Rules of the House and Rule 16 of the Rules of the Senate, or if all
such offices be vacant, then the living persons who have held the office of
Governor, who are at the time of such vacancy physically and mentally
able to discharge the duties of the office, and who are not prohibited
by law from holding a State office; the office of acting Governor shall
be filled from such group in inverse order as they held the office of
Governor; and in the event there is no such person, then the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals, or if there be none, the judge
longest in continuous service as judge of a court of record in the Com-
monwealth, shall become acting Governor. While so discharging the duties
of the office of Governor, such person shall not act as President pro
tempore of the Senate, or as Speaker of the House of Delegates, as the
case may be, nor vote as a member thereof, nor act as Attorney General
or as a member of the House of Delegates or the Senate, or justice or judge
of a court or record, but his office shall not be vacated except for the period
during which he acts as Governor.