Office of Hawaiian Affairs

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA), established through the Hawaiʻi state Constitutional Convention of 1978, is a semi-autonomous state agency responsible for improving the well-being of all Native Hawaiians. It is governed by an elected Board of Trustees and receives income derived from land taken in the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Although OHA did not take a position on the construction of H-3 per se, the agency filed suit in state and federal court in 1986 to prevent construction that would damage archaeological features in the Luluku Archaeological District. The federal court ordered the state to comply with the National Historic Preservation Act. As a result, the state redesigned a freeway off-ramp to avoid the archaeological features.

Later, in 1990, OHA agreed to a plan that would require the burial of Kukuiokāne Heiau (whose location was disputed) in order to preserve other significant sites. OHA also negotiated a Burial Treatment Plan with the state to guide how burials discovered during construction were to be handled.

In 1995, OHA submitted the Final Draft Mitigation and Enhancement Plan, Interstate Route H-3 to the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation and the State Historic Preservation Division as specified in a memorandum of agreement. OHA signed a Cooperative Agreement with the Hawaiʻi Department of Transportation to preserve and interpret the cultural resources located in the Luluku area.

One component of the agreement was the Interpretive Development Plan (IDP), which was completed in 2008. It led to the creation of the Hālawa-Luluku Interpretive Development Project, for which OHA is the project manager, to facilitate community collaboration on the IDP and to develop stewardship activities. In 2019, the Luluku Farmers’ Association and Aloha ʻAina Health and Learning Center were selected by OHA to fulfill the role of steward of Luluku.