The Office of Hawaiian Affairs was the brainchild of Hawaiian activist delegates to the 1978 Constitutional Convention.
The convention spent much time on Hawaiian affairs, including the creation of OHA, a semi-independent agency charged with working "for the betterment of Hawaiians."
After struggling over its mission early on, OHA eventually focused on economic development, cultural protection and education and social advancement for Hawaiians.
OHA has faced two major controversies over the years.
The first was over funding and income derived from former Hawaiian government lands ceded to the U.S. government after annexation and returned to Hawai'i upon statehood.
The issue, which still lingers and has gone through numerous legal wranglings, is how OHA should be paid by the state for its share of the revenues from ceded lands. Hundreds of millions of dollars ride on the outcome.
The other setback was when Freddy Rice, of the Big Island, challenged the Hawaiians-only voting requirement. His lawsuit, Rice v. Cayetano, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that the requirement was unconstitutional. Non-Hawaiians could vote and run for OHA.
Today, OHA is a thriving institution that is laying the groundwork, many believe, for the day when Hawaiians will be a federally recognized political entity through federal legislation.
Critics of OHA come from two sides. One group thinks it is wrong, if not unconstitutional, to have a state agency charged with the betterment of only one ethnic group. Others, including some Hawaiians, say the cause of the Hawaiian people should not be left in the hands of a state agency dependent on state grants for survival.
