Office of Hawaiian AffairsGovernment

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) is a semi-autonomous public agency of the State of Hawaiʻi, governed by a nine-member Board of Trustees elected by the registered voters of the state. Its constitutional mandate is to improve the conditions and well-being of Native Hawaiians by managing public land trust assets, advocating for cultural and environmental preservation, funding community grants, and promoting Hawaiian self-determination. Established by the 1978 Hawaiʻi State Constitutional Convention to address historical injustices stemming from the 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, OHA gained national legal prominence in the landmark 2000 U.S. Supreme Court case Rice v. Cayetano, which opened its trustee elections to all eligible Hawaiian voters regardless of ancestry.