The lieutenant governor of California is the second highest executive officer of the government of the U.S. state of California. The lieutenant governor is elected to serve a four-year term and can serve a maximum of two terms. In addition to largely ministerial roles, serving as acting governor in the absence of the governor of California and as President of the California State Senate, the lieutenant governor either sits on or appoints representatives to many of California's regulatory commissions and executive agencies.
California is one of seventeen states where the governor and lieutenant governor do not run as running mates on the same ticket: in California the governor and lieutenant governor are elected separately, although both are up for election in the same year every four years. As a result, California has frequently had a governor and a lieutenant governor of different parties.