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Established: By the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920, enacted by the United States Congress and signed into law by President Warren Harding on July 9, 1921. Section XII of the Hawai’i State Constitution adopted the Congressional act as a law of the state. Section 24 of Act 1 passed by the First State Legislature, Second Special Session transferred the authority and functions of the Hawaiian Homes Commission to the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

The Department of Health is established under section 26-13 and specifically provided for in chapter 321, Hawaii Revised Statutes. It was established in 1960 by the Hawaii State Reorganization Act of 1959.

The Department of Human Services was established in 1960 as the Department of Social Services. It was renamed the Department of Social Services and Housing in 1970 and received its current designation in 1987. Its records are organized into two sub-groups of one series each, Records of the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility and Records of the Long Term Care Channeling Office/“Project Malama.” Neither agency remains in the department. The Hawaii Youth Correction Facility was placed under the Office of Youth Services in 1991 and the Long Term Care Channeling Office was disestablished in 1995.

Act 203 of the 1939 legislative session established the Department of Institutions of the Territory of Hawaiʻi and delegated to it jurisdiction over the Territorial Hospital, Waialeʻe Training School for Boys, Kawailoa Training School for Girls, and the Oʻahu Prison and prison camps. By an oversight, Waimano Home was omitted from the original act but was incorporated by Act 5, S.L.H. 1941.

Prior to 1939 the territorial institutions were administered and controlled by independent boards and commissions whose efforts were entirely uncoordinated. Act 203 abolished these boards and commissions, and transferred all the rights, powers, functions, duties, and liabilities held by them to the Department of Institutions.

Appointed by the Governor with the approval of the Territorial Senate and usually serving a term of four years, the chief executive of the department was the Director of Institutions. He also was a member of the Governor's cabinet. In broad terms, the duties of the director were: (1) to coordinate and direct all phases of the administration of the institutions, (2) to formulate policies for an integrated program of treatment and training, (3) to exercise administrative control over the preparation of all budgets and over the expenditure of all funds made available to each institution or agency, (4) to prepare legislation for presentation to the legislature, and (5) to annually report the activities and conditions of the department to the Governor. Governor Joseph B. Poindexter appointed Oscar F. Goddard the first Director of Institutions.

Pursuant to Act 203 an Advisory Board on Institutions was created. The Board consisted of five members, appointed and removed by the Governor, serving without pay and holding office for one year or until successors were appointed. The Director of Institutions was the presiding officer of the Board and he alone had the authority to call meetings. Selected to serve on the Board were Mrs. Eva Hendry, Messrs. Reginald P. Faithfull, Wade Warren Thayer, Theodore F. Trent, and F. B. Faus.

The Department of Institutions also included other government agencies. They were the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Identification, the Division of Parole and Homeplacement, and the Board of Paroles and Pardons.

The Department of Institutions was created to coordinate and direct the administrations of the several institutions. However, in 1954, Director Charles H. Silva found it necessary to delineate lines of authority, areas of conflict, and areas of overlapping. Consequently, Management Consulting Services, a private research firm, was employed to study the department. Among the significant findings of the research group was the "lack of department understanding of the way the department is set up because of too much autonomy." Management Consulting Services was contracted again in 1955 to assist in implementing the study recommendations and by 1956 the Department of Institutions was reorganized into five major divisions: the Division of Hawaii Prison System, including Oʻahu Prison and the prison camps; the Division of Territorial Hospital; the Division of Parole and Homeplacement; the Division of Waimano Home; and the Division of Training Schools, consisting of Koʻolau Boys' Home, Kawailoa Girls' Home, and the Molokaʻi Forestry Camp.

With statehood in 1959 and the ensuing reorganization of the executive departments in accordance with Act I of the Second Special Session of 1959, the authority and functions exercised by the Department of Institutions were transferred to the newly established Department of Social Services. Control over the Waimano Home and the State Hospital was delegated to the Department of Health.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources was formed from a number of existing agencies and divisions, under the Hawaii State Government Reorganization Act of 1959. The Governor's Executive Order Number 14 formally established the Department on May 11, 1960.

Planning for the optimum use of human and natural resources and for the development of the economy of the State. Collated data regarding the people, resources and needs of the State. Prescribed a standardized statistical reporting system for the State.

The Department of Education was established in 1840. In that year the Privy Council of the Kingdom instituted a system of universal education in Hawaii under the leadership of a Superintendent of the Whole, later called the Minister of Public Instruction.
In 1855 the office of Minister was replaced by the Board of Education, whose members were appointed by the King, and the department was named the Department of Public Instruction. The Board of Education was headed by a President, who acted as the Board's chief executive officer.
The President and Board administered the system through school agents, who in 1855 were stationed in 24 school districts throughout the Kingdom. The school agents worked semi- independently with the primary responsibility in the districts to hire, pay, transfer and evaluate teachers; and build and maintain the buildings and grounds of the schools. In addition, they conducted the population census and disbursed funds allotted to them by the district tax collectors. The school agents were required to report regularly to the Board on their accomplishments and on their observations of teaching effectiveness and student attendance in the schools. There developed a steady stream of reports and correspondence between the districts and the Board of Education in Honolulu during the nineteenth century.
In 1865 the office of Inspector General of schools was created to improve the quality of instruction. The Inspector- General toured the districts, inspected and supervised, and reported his findings to the Board in Honolulu. Upon authorization of the Board, he examined, certificated, appointed, dismissed, and transferred teachers; modified courses of instruction; and opened or closed schools as the population count dictated.
In 1896, Act 57 provided for a significant reorganization of the educational establishment. The Board of Education, which was subordinate to the Minister of the Interior, and had administered public education since 1855, was replaced by a Department of Public Instruction headed by a Minister, as chief administrative officer, and six commissioners. In 1900, the Organic Act left the department intact, other than renaming the Minister as the Superintendent of Public Instruction and providing that he be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate.
Between 1909 and 1920 the system underwent a series of changes. In 1909 the school agents were replaced by supervising principals; in 1913 the building and maintenance responsibilities of the school agents were transferred out of the department to the counties; and in 1920 the number of school districts was reduced from 24 to 8. The supervising principals reported semi- annually to the Board in detailed statistical reports.
In 1931, by Act 284, the administration of the department was assigned collectively to the Board of Commissioners of Public Instruction, whose number was increased to eight. Concurrently, the Superintendent’s designation as chief administrative officer was deleted and he was made a member of the board, ex-officio.
In 1950, in another reorganization, staff offices were established under the supervision of the Superintendent. Their primary duty was to advise the Superintendent on the appropriate measures for broadening, improving and unifying the curriculum across the Territory-wide system. This included developing programs for newly identified student categories, such as the handicapped, slow learners and the disadvantaged. In the school districts, District Superintendents replaced the supervising principals and assumed the responsibility to implement the new curriculum changes.
This new staff and District Superintendent system created a large volume of studies, evaluations, reports, recommendations and publications flowing between the staff, the Superintendent, and the District Superintendents.
Between 1959 and 1966 other changes were implemented. In 1959, with Statehood, the Department was renamed the Department of Education, and the board was renamed the Board of Education. In 1966 the board was made elective rather than appointive, and was empowered to appoint the Superintendent, whereas previously the Superintendent had been a voting member of the Board. This change created a clear separation of policy-making from the administration of policy.

When Hawaii became a state in 1959, the executive branch was reorganized and the newly created State Department of Taxation was assigned the function and responsibility of assessing and collecting taxes (Act 1, Second Special Session, Session Laws of Hawaii).

Predecessor Agencies:
Department of Finance of the Kingdom of Hawaii, 1846-1893
Department of Finance of Hawaii, 1893-1900
Tax Bureau, Treasury Department of the Territory of Hawaii, 1900-1932
Tax Commissioner, 1932-1959