Hawaii (state)

B

Legislative

The state legislature is made up of a 25-member Senate and a 51-member House of Representatives. State senators are elected for four years and state representatives for two years.

The state legislature convenes annually at Honolulu for a 60-day session. The governor may extend sessions for 30 days and may also convene 30-day special sessions. The legislature may extend sessions for up to 15 days.

In 1969 Hawaii installed the first ombudsman in the United States elected by any state legislature. The ombudsman (a Swedish word meaning “agent,””representative,” or “deputy”) is authorized to receive and publicize citizen complaints against state and county government agencies. The ombudsman has no power to change decisions made by a governor or mayor, but may criticize publicly any decision considered discriminatory or otherwise unfair. The ombudsman, who may serve a maximum of three six-year terms, can be removed from office only by a two-thirds vote of the legislature in joint session, and only for neglect of duty, misconduct, or disability.

C

Judicial

The highest state court in Hawaii is the supreme court. It consists of five justices, including a chief justice, who serve ten-year terms. Judges of the state circuit courts, the principle trial courts, also serve ten-year terms. There are also district courts and other lower courts. District court magistrates are appointed by the chief justice of the supreme court. All other judges are appointed by the governor with the approval of the state senate.

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D

Local Government

Compared with the other states, Hawaii has a unique system of local government. There are no incorporated municipalities, and all local governmental functions are divided among four administrative counties and the state department of health. The four administrative counties are the County of Hawaii; the City and County of Honolulu, which includes Oahu and several small islets in the island chain to the northwest; the County of Kauai, which includes Kauai and Niihau; and the County of Maui, which includes Maui, Lanai, Kahoolawe, and most of Molokai. The counties of Hawaii and Maui are each governed by a mayor and council elected for four-year terms; the County of Kauai has a mayor and council elected for two-year terms. The County of Kalawao, which is the site of the famous Kalaupapa leper settlement on Molokai, is designated as a county by the United States Bureau of the Census. However, it is administered by the state department of health.

E

National Representation

Hawaii elects two members to the U.S. House of Representatives and two members to the U.S. Senate. The state has four electoral votes in presidential elections.

VII

History

A

Early Inhabitants

The native Hawaiians probably came originally from islands in the eastern part of Polynesia, from the Society Islands, which include Tahiti, and from the Marquesas Islands. In all likelihood these tall, tawny-skinned people migrated to the Hawaiian Islands sometime between the 7th century ad and the 13th century. They made the voyage of more than 3,200 km (2,000 mi) in long catamaran-like canoes.

At the time of the arrival of the first Westerners late in the 18th century, there were an estimated 300,000 native inhabitants. The Hawaiians lived in villages that were located along the coast or in the larger valleys a short distance inland. The island of Hawaii was the most heavily populated in the chain. The Hawaiians relied for their food primarily on fishing, farming, and gathering of wild plants. Their staple diet was fish and poi, a pastelike food made from the tuber, or underground stem, of the taro plant. The Hawaiians had neither metals nor metalworking skills. Weapons, household utensils, and other implements were fashioned from wood, stone, shell, and bone.