Succession
Upon the death, resignation, or removal from office (by impeachment and conviction) of a sitting Governor, the Secretary of State would then take the office of Governor until the end of the four-year term. In case the Secretary of State is unwilling or unable to assume it, the Secretary of Justice would temporarily assume the governorship, followed by the Secretary of Treasury, the Secretary of Education, the Secretary of Labor and Human Resources, the Secretary of Transportation and Public Works, the Secretary of Economic Development and Commerce, the Secretary of Health and the Secretary of Agriculture, until the Legislative Assembly meets to elect by majority vote of all of its members a Governor for the rest of the term. Other provisions exist for the transition between an incumbent Governor and a Governor-elect.
Contrary to some U.S. states, if the Governor is temporarily away from Puerto Rico, the Secretary of State, or in his absence the highest ranking Cabinet member in the line of succession, becomes Acting Governor until the Governor's return. In decades past, when off-island gubernatorial travel was infrequent, the powers of the governorship rarely devolved upon the Secretary of State or other Cabinet officers. More frequent traveling by recent Governors have turned the Acting Governorship a much more common occurrence. During the administration of Luis Fortuño, not only Secretary of State frequently served as Acting Governor, but the Secretary of Justice, and Secretary of Treasury as well.
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