Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono
"The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness"
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The members of the Senate do hereby reaffirm the Senate's dedication to upholding the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Hawai‘i, to providing for openness and fairness in all of its proceedings, and to promoting collaboration and consultation in its committee work.
The Senate stands as a people-oriented institution that serves all of the people, whatever their background or persuasion.
The Senate works for the public good and strives to give every person an equal opportunity to realize his or her highest potential.
The Senate's organized debate and deliberative consideration of issues shall be open to the public.
The Hawaiʻi State Senate (1969)
Queen Liliʻuokalani
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The Hawaiʻi State Senate (2019)
The story of Hawai‘i's political beginnings echoes Hawai‘i's geological origins. Numerous cycles of volcanic eruptions followed by a cooling of the earth created layer upon layer of new land that formed the foundation of our islands. Similarly, Hawai‘i's transition from a territory to a state, then into the twenty-first century, has been marked by numerous waves of opportunity, challenges, and triumphs, giving rise to a great state with a thriving government, economy, culture, and people.
Just as the cycles of eruptions and cooling of earth continue to slowly add new land to the Hawaiian archipelago each day, new questions and issues will inevitably arise as Hawai‘i progresses through times of rapid social, economic, and political change. In the coming years, the Legislature has the opportunity to significantly affect the literal and figurative landscape of this State. Undertaking state challenges in the twenty-first century means not only adapting new technologies and ideas to find solutions, but also remembering and examining the elemental processes, people, and history that have brought us to this point – the cycles of eruptions and cooling that have produced a growing chain of islands that appear entirely separate on the surface but remain connected at the very depths of their foundation.
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​State legislatures across the country are gradually embracing social media as a way to engage with constituents and share information. In 2012 the Hawai‘i State Senate led the way with one of the first social media use policies for a state legislature, and by 2013, many of the Senate's members, committees, and caucuses actively post to Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter accounts during the legislative session.