RICHMOND — Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell County, was not in her House of Delegates seat during Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s State of the Commonwealth speech to legislators Wednesday night.
Byron was at an undisclosed location and under state police guard because House Speaker William Howell had designated her for an unusual role: to step in as acting governor in the event an unforeseen catastrophe were to take the lives of other top elected leaders who were assembled to hear Kaine’s message.
The honorific for Byron occurred because Virginia’s constitution (Article 5, section 16) requires the House Speaker to designate a delegate to be acting governor if the lieutenant governor, attorney general and speaker all were incapacitated.
Howell will make similar appointments during Saturday’s inauguration ceremonies and again on Monday night when then-Gov. Bob McDonnell will speak to both the House and Senate.
Howell rotates those appointments among committee chairmen, said Paul Nardo, his spokesman. Byron is chairwoman of the House Science and Technology Committee.
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