The Office of Hawaiian Affairs is governed by an elected board of nine trustees. The constitution provides an outline of that board, "There shall be a board of trustees for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs elected by qualified voters who are Hawaiians, as provided by law. The board members shall be Hawaiians. There shall be not less than nine members of the board of trustees; provided that each of the following Islands have one representative: Oahu, Kauai, Maui, Molokai and Hawaii
1959 Hawaii was officially adopted as the fiftieth state of the US, with the Statehood Admissions Act defining "Native Hawaiian" as any person descended from the aboriginal people of Hawaii, living there prior to 1778. The Ceded lands (lands once owned by the Hawaiian kingdom monarchy) were transferred from the federal government to the State of Hawaii for the "betterment of the conditions of the native Hawaiians". In 1978 the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) was created in response to the growing Hawaiian sovereignty movement of the 1970s
