Act 334, S.L.H. 1949, mandated the calling of a convention of 63 elected delegates to form a constitution and state government and to prepare for the admission of Hawaii as a state. Upon completion of its deliberations, the convention was directed to notify the Governor who would submit the constitution to the Legislature. The Legislature was charged with providing for the submission of the constitution, along with any changes it proposed, to the electorate for ratification. If the legislature failed to provide for the ratification of the constitution, the Governor was authorized to call a special election for such purpose.
The Hawaii State Constitutional Convention was called to order by Secretary of the Territory, Oren E. Long, in the Throne Room of the Iolani Palace. Samuel Wilder King was elected president and presiding officer of the Convention, and Hebden Porteus, secretary. Also elected were four vice-presidents: Thomas T. Sakakihara from the First Senatorial District; Arthur D. Woolaway, Second Senatorial District; Hiram L. Fong, Third Senatorial District; and Charles A. Rice, Fourth Senatorial District.
Twenty standing committees were established, seventeen to consider proposals (Bill of Rights; Legislative Powers and Functions; Executive Powers and Functions; Judiciary; Taxation and Finance; Local Government; Education; Health and Public Welfare; Industry and Labor; Agriculture, Conservation and Land; Hawaiian Homes Commission Act; Suffrage and Elections; Revisions, Amendments, Initiative, Referendum and Recall; Ordinances and Continuity of Law; Miscellaneous Matters; Style; Submission and Information) and three concerned with procedural matters (Rules and Order of Business, Accounts, and Printing). Proposals for inclusion in the constitution were referred to the proper standing committee for consideration and study. The committees held discussions and hearings, and in their reports to the president, made committee proposals which became the basis for discussion by the delegates in the Committee of the Whole. After the report of the Committee of the Whole was approved it was referred to the Committee on Style, which was responsible
for detecting inaccuracies, repetitions, and inconsistencies and for arranging each proposal in proper order in the constitution.
The constitution was signed by 62 of 63 delegates in a public ceremony at Iolani Palace on July 22, 1950, the 79th day of the Convention; referred to the Legislature at a special session in September, 1950; and accepted in entirety by Joint Resolution 1. On November 7, 1950 it was ratified by a 3 to 1 margin by the electorate at the general election.
An informal meeting of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention was called by Governor Samuel W. King on November 12, 1955 to discuss the matter of reapportionment. A resolution was passed requesting Congress to amend the Hawaiian Organic Act "so as to reconstitute the Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii along the lines set forth in the proposed Constitution for the State of Hawaii."
Public Law 86-3, which admitted Hawaii into the Union, made three changes in the proposed constitution: 1) deleted Palmyra from the proposed state boundaries, 2) stipulated that provisions of the Hawaiian Homes Commission could be changed only with the consent of Congress, and 3) reduced to one representative, Hawaii's delegation in the House of Representatives. It also required that the electorate approve the changes made in the proposed state constitution. A three-question plebescite was conducted in the primary election on June 27, 1959, and all three questions were approved. With the signing of the statehood proclamation by President Eisenhower on August 21, 1959, the state constitution went into effect.