Well…I think the thread title is clear…I never heard about lieutenant-governors before the recent US election, and I’m wondering what they’re doing…
In Illinois, the lieutenant governor does nothing at all.
Lieutenant governors spend a lot of time asking the governor if he’s feeling OK.
Actually, the responsibilities vary from state to state. In some states, the Lt. Governor is the presiding officer of the State Senate, but that’s becoming more of an exception than the rule.
Here in California, the Lt. Governor heads up several different state commissions and is also a regent of the University of California.
In most states, the Lt. Governor takes over when the governor is out of the state.
IMO, it’s a useless job. Most states have other statewide officials who have real responsibilities, such as the Secretary of State or Attorney General and you could just make that person the 2nd in line. New Jersey seems to get by fine without a lieutenant governor.
In California (and many other states) the governor and lieutenant governor run on separate tickets so you can get a situation where there are people from different parties in the two offices. Then you get situations where the Lt. Gov waits for the Gov. to leave state and s/he does things like appoint judges or call for special sessions of the Legislature.
Try Google. 
I did. Here’s a random link for the State of California - Lieutenant Governor FAQ.
Now just check out the remaining 49 other state Lieutenant Governors and you just might have what you need.
In Illinois, there are no specific duties for the Lt. Gov. However, he/she (Corrine Wood, currently) does head up various do-gooder programs around the state. In addition, she uses her position to generate publicity for causes such as breast cancer.
A lieutenant governor usually serves on various boards and commissions, sometimes as chairman; in some (all?) states serves as president of the state senate (rather like the vice president of the U.S.), and in all states he waits for the governor to die or become incapacitated or leave the state.
http://www.ltg.ca.gov/office_of/responsibilities/respon.asp
In California in the 1970s, Lieutenant Governor Mike Curb (a Republican) gleefully took over for Governor Jerry Brown (a Democrat) when he left the state. Executive proclamations and judge nominations had to be withdrawn when Brown got back.
Thanks for your quick replies, so it seems that generally he’s sort of a vice-governor with no actual responsabilities…
Or to put it this way during their term in office …
Always the bridesmaid but never the bride. 
My recollection is that in Texas the Lt. Governor somehow manages to have the equivilent powers of presiding over the legislature, making the position very powerful, where the governor in Texas has less powers than most governors.
This may be a bit afield from your inquiry, clairobscur, but I thought you’d be interested to know that Canada has Lieutenant Governors too. There are three main differences between the Canadian and American varieties:
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Canadian Lieutenant Governors are appointed, not elected;
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Canadian Lieutenant Governors are the formal heads of state of the Canadian provinces, but don’t exercise any real political power;
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Up here, it’s pronounced “Leftenant Governor.”
Our provincial governments each have a parliamentary system where the political power resides with the elected Assembly. The leader of the majority in the Assembly becomes the Premier, and is the head of government. The Lieutenant Governors are appointed by the federal government and exercise the royal prerogative powers in each province, but always on the advice of the Premier.
In Texas, the Lt. Governor has more power than than the Governer. IIRC corectly, it dates back to reconstruction, where they had a carpet bagger governer, so they made him more or less a figure head.
If the US had a Lt. Governor’s convention and 60 people showed up, how many of THEM would be able to identify all ten imposters?
You are probably a political junky if you can accurately name your own state’s last three Lt. Governors.
BTW, are we certain that all 50 states have a position called “Lieutenant Governor”?
New Hampshire does not have a lieutenant governor.
In Maryland, the job of the Lt. Govenor is to loose elections.
What’s the job of a lieutenant-governor?
Makes sure I pay rent.
No, not all states have Lieutenant Governors. This site lists them all and notes which states do not have them. (Arizona, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, West Virginia and Wyoming, to be exact.)
Thought there would be a few without.
That link also notes how they’re elected, and what other states can get into the “Mike Curb” scenario noted above where the Gov. and Lt. Gov. are from different parties, and the Lt. doesn’t behave himself when the Gov. is out of the office.
Then again, that’s what you deserve if you elect not only a Lt. Gov. from a different party, but a producer / record company exec to boot (yes, the CA Lt. Gov. was THAT “Mike Curb”).
To me, “Secretary of State” always sounded exceedingly silly as a state level office, like CA is going to send diplomatic missions to Michigan, or something. In truth, it’s another office that varies widely from state to state. CA’s Sec’y of State handles elections and chartering of corporations, for instance.