Your Iowa Constitution - Gubernatorial Succession

So maybe you heard that a vehicle carrying Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Kim Reynolds hit one of Iowa's plentiful deer on Interstate 35 yesterday. A state trooper was at the wheel and ably brought our executive branch duo through the incident unscathed. The deer, not so much.

Made me think of Gov. William Beardsley, as Radio Iowa's O.Kay Henderson explains:

Iowa law requires the state's governor to be driven by a state trooper. The law was passed over half a century ago after an Iowa governor who was driving himself was killed in a car wreck. Governor Bill Beardsley was killed on November 21, 1954, during his third term as governor.

It also made me wonder what would have happened had Wednesday's mishap been, God forbid, worse.

To the Iowa Constitution:

Succession to office of governor and lieutenant governor. SEC. 19. If there be a vacancy in the office of the governor and the lieutenant governor shall by reason of death, impeachment, resignation, removal from office, or other disability become incapable of performing the duties pertaining to the office of governor, the president of the senate shall act as governor until the vacancy is filled or the disability removed; and if the president of the senate, for any of the above causes, shall be incapable of performing the duties pertaining to the office of governor the same shall devolve upon the speaker of the house of representatives; and if the speaker of the house of representatives, for any of the above causes, shall be incapable of performing the duties of the office of governor, the justices of the supreme court shall convene the general assembly by proclamation and the general assembly shall organize by the election of a president by the senate and a speaker by the house of representatives. The general assembly shall thereupon immediately proceed to the election of a governor and lieutenant governor in joint convention.

This succession arrangement was placed in the Constitution in 1988, as part of an amendment making lieutenant governors into running mates elected alongside governors, starting in 1990. Before that, lt. guvs were elected independently of governors and presided over the Senate.

I honestly knew nothing about the section that calls for convening the General Assembly, by proclamation of the Supreme Court, to elect a new governor and lieutenant. Very dramatic stuff, that I hope we never see.

And, hey, let's be careful out there.