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The Land Evaluation and Site Assessment Commission (LESAC) was established by Act 273, Session Laws of Hawaii, 1983.
The purpose of Act 273 was to implement Article XI Section 3, of the Hawaii State Constitution, by providing for standards, criteria, and procedures designed to conserve and protect agricultural lands and to assure long-term availability of agriculturally suitable land. The Legislature directed that LESAC: formulate the State of Hawaii land evaluation and site assessment system; identify, develop and recommend for legislative adoption important agricultural lands per that system; and evaluate alternative agricultural production goals.
LESAC was further directed to submit reports to the legislature prior to the convening of the regular session in both 1984 and 1985. The reports' contents were specified in Act 273, and included evaluations, findings, recommendations, maps of agricultural lands identified per the recommendations, and a comprehensive set of legislative proposals to effectuate the intent of LESAC's recommendations.
Finally, Act 273 specified the composition of the 17-member Commission, placed it administratively under LRB, provided funding and directed that the Commission would cease to exist upon the adjournment sine die of the regular session of the 1985 legislature.
The Commission first met in October, 1983, and met approximately monthly thereafter. The Commission adopted by-laws, organized into sub-committees and hired a consultant to do the detail work of the Commission. Initial work involved gathering background information and data regarding existing agricultural systems. This was followed by analysis of existing agricultural classifications, policies and procedures, and review of LESA concepts and methodology, with a view to formulating courses of action for the implementation of the new systems and processes which LESAC was created to develop.
Part of the LESAC charter in Act 273 was to involve the public in its work via informational meetings and hearings. Informational meetings were conducted on all islands except Kahoolawe and Niihau in March, 1984. Public hearing on the draft initial report were held in February and March, 1985.
Delays in the work of the Commission pushed back the submission of the 1984 report from the beginning of the 1984 legislative session until March, 1985. In that report, the Commission recommended that its existence be extended beyond the end of the 1985 legislative session, a recommendation approved by the passage of Act 148, SLH 1985, which extended the term of the Commission by one year.
Public hearings on the draft final report were held in December, 1985, and January, 1986. The final report was submitted in February, 1986. The Commission held its last meeting on April 16, 1986, and ceased to exist on April 23, 1986.

The Land Study Bureau existed from 1957 to 1974, but its records include materials dated as early as 1923. It was established to gather, analyze and publish information on the characteristics, use and potential utilization of land in Hawaii in order to enhance the operational effectiveness of government agencies concerned with the entire spectrum of land issues, from agriculture to zoning.

Established: By Act 35, SLH 1957. The primary Legislative motive for creating the Land Study Bureau (LSB) was to respond to the lack of basic, readily available information on all aspects of land; such information was necessary for proper land use planning.

Dates: May 1, 1957-June 30, 1974.

Predecessor Agencies: None.

Organization: The LSB was part of the Organized Research Department of the University of Hawaii and responsible to the Director of Organized Research. It was placed in the University of Hawaii system to ensure the objectivity of its work and to provide it with easy access to other University researchers. In practice, it worked directly with various territorial/state and U.S. agencies. To carry out its legislative mandate, the LSB organized itself as a multidisciplinary group whose purpose was to research land use. They considered themselves a land fact finding agency. They had no interest in becoming involved in land use recommendations or zoning changes. Nevertheless, other University of Hawaii departments and state agencies sometimes felt that the LSB duplicated their own work. As a result, attempts were made to integrate the LSB into other agencies, but in the end it remained separate, on the basis that independent status was necessary to provide impartial service to a wide range of groups.

The Land Survey Division was established in 1959 under the Reorganization Act of 1959, Act 1, Second Special Session. It succeeded the Territorial Survey Department and is a division of the Department of Accounting and General Services.

The Legislative Reference Bureau (LRB) was created by Act 91, Session Laws of Hawaii, 1943, as a department of the University of Hawaii (UH), "for the use of the members of the legislature, the Governor and the various departments, institutions and agencies" of the territorial government, as well as, under circumstances regulated by the president of the university, private citizens. The purposes of the Bureau were: to assist the Governor and members of the legislature in the proper performance of the their functions by providing them with impartial and accurate information and reports concerning legislative problems; to provide a research and reference service; to secure information pertaining to legislative problems; to draft bills; to render legal services in connection therewith; and to make available for use by agencies and citizens its reference materials and facilities.
Act 171, Session Laws of Hawaii, 1972, established the LRB as an office under the legislature, disestablished the LRB as a department of the UH and transferred its functions from the UH to the newly created office. At the same time, the research services of the Bureau were restricted to the legislature, its committees and members. Concurrently, the office of the Revisor of Statutes was placed within the LRB.

Following the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in January 1893, there was no legislature per se until 1895. On July 2, 1894, a constitutional convention unanimously approved a previously drafted constitution for the Republic of Hawaii, which succeeded the Provisional Government on July 4, 1894. On October 29, 1894, elections were held for the 15 senators and 15 representatives of the Legislature of the Republic of Hawaii, which first met, in joint session, at noon on June 12, 1895, to hear President Dole welcome the reconstitution of a regular legislative body in Hawaii and define the important issues confronting the nation. There were four sessions of this legislature: the Special Session of 1895 (53 days), the Regular Session of 1896 (100 days), the Extra Session of 1897 (Senate only, 3 days) which ratified the Treaty of Annexation, and the Regular Session of 1898 (120 days). The Republic of Hawaii officially ceased to exist upon annexation. Although the executive departments continued to carry out their administrative functions, under the auspices of the U.S. State Department, until passage of the Organic Act in 1900, the Legislature of the Republic of Hawaii adjourned for the last time on July 7, 1898, coincidentally the same day that President McKinley signed the Resolution of Annexation.

The 30th and last legislature of the Territory of Hawaii adjourned sine die on May 2, 1959. Hawaii was admitted as the 50th State of the United States on August 21, 1959, and the Constitution of the State of Hawaii, ratified on November 7, 1950, went into effect. On August 31, 1959, in accordance with Article XVI of the State Constitution, the First Legislature of the State of Hawaii convened in Special Session.

Article III of the State Constitution vests legislative power in a Legislature of two houses, a Senate and a House of Representatives. Such power extends to "all rightful subjects of legislation not inconsistent" with the State Constitution or the Constitution of the United States. Article III also enumerates the powers of the Legislature, the qualifications of the legislators and the lengths of legislative sessions. Through 1968, the Legislature of the State of Hawaii met in general session in odd-numbered years and in budget session in even-numbered years. From 1969 it has met annually in regular session. Special sessions of varying length have been convened when necessary throughout the period of statehood.

In these sessions, both the House and the Senate organize themselves into several standing committees, and into such special committees as may appear from time to time to be appropriate. These committees hear testimony on resolutions, bills and other matters pending before them as part of the process of determining what action to take thereon. They investigate such claims, circumstances or situations as may be referred to them, and provide opinions and recommendations to the full House or Senate.

The State Constitution of 1950 provided for multiple representatives and senators from individual districts. The first legislature consisted of 25 senators from six districts and 51 representatives from 18 districts. This scheme remained in effect through the Eleventh Legislature in 1982. By that time, the number of districts had increased to 8 senatorial and 27 representative, the result of a succession of redistricting and reapportionment actions. In 1983, as a result of a federally-approved plan, the legislature converted to single-member districts; however, the number of representatives and senators in the legislature has not changed since statehood.

The last legislature of the Republic of Hawaii adjourned sine die on July 7, 1898. Annexation of Hawaii to the United States followed quickly, but the Organic Act, which established the Government for the Territory of Hawaii, did not take effect until June 14, 1900. Consequently, Hawaii was without a formal legislative body until the First Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii, consisting of a Senate and House of Representatives, whose members were elected in November 1900, convened, as specified in the Organic Act, on February 20, 1901. The first Senate was made up of 15 members from 4 Senatorial Districts; the House of Representatives had 30 members from 6 Representative Districts. The Organic Act also enumerated the powers of the Legislature, the qualifications of the legislators and the lengths of legislative sessions; and it required, inter alia, that all proceedings be in English. The Legislature of the Territory of Hawaii met in 30 regular biennial sessions, 13 special sessions and 3 extra sessions between 1901 and 1959.