Government of Hawaii

The **Government of the Kingdom of Hawaii** (Hawaiian: *Aha Kuhina o ke Aupuni o Hawaiʻi*) is the cabinet of Hawaii, exercising executive power in the country.

The cabinet carries out the country's domestic and foreign policy, shaped by parliament; it directs and co-ordinates the work of government institutions and bears full responsibility for everything occurring within the authority of executive power. The government, headed by the prime minister, thus represents the political leadership of the country and makes decisions in the name of the whole executive power.

Formally, executive power is vested in the Monarch, who formally appoints the ministers. However, under the Constitution of Hawaii, the Monarch is not politically responsible for exercising their powers, and their acts must be countersigned by a minister. Thus, in practice, the ministers do the actual day-to-day work of governing.

## Function and composition

The government wields most executive power in Hawaiian politics, whilst the prime minister is the head of government. Each minister in the Hawaiian government heads a ministry. Ministries each cover a range of issues within politics, and the minister is tasked with focusing their attention and policymaking on those issues. Partisanship in the government is determined by the make up of the governing coalition in the House of Representatives; if one party holds a majority, they will typically head all ministries, while if a coalition is governing, then the ministries will be delegated to each party in the coalition proportionately.

There is no constitutionally mandated amount of ministers, although the prime minister does not have the power to create new ministries and ministerial posts on their own, as they do in other countries. Instead, all ministries and ministerial positions must be created through an act of parliament. The newest ministerial position is the environment minister, which was created in 1994. When a minister proposes a new policy, they must defend their policy during debate in parliament.

## Formation

### Coalition building

Following a general election, the outgoing prime minister of the previous government submits their resignation to the Monarch, and the process for building a new government begins. The outgoing government remains in their positions until the new government is formed, although they act in a caretaking capacity and are prevented from implementing new policies.

Following the certification of election results, the Monarch offers a mandate to form a government to the chairperson of whichever party holds the most seats in parliament, be it a plurality or majority. In the case of the latter, the chairperson will typically have no issues in forming their government and will take office soon afterwards as prime minister; in the case of the former, the chairperson with the mandate will begin coalition building talks with other parties in order to form a parliamentary majority, or at the very least a minority that will be stable enough to govern effectively. They are given exactly two months to sign a coalition agreement, or their mandate will be forcibly removed and granted to the chairperson of the next largest party in parliament. Typically, this is not necessary, as either an agreement will be reached or the chairperson will voluntarily return the mandate upon realizing they have no path to a government. If the second party also fails to form a government in the time allotted, then the mandate is forcibly returned and parliament is suspended for a second election, when the process begins again. If the party chairmanship is vacant, the mandate cannot be offered and will be passed to the next largest party instead.

### Nominations

Following the formation of a governing coalition, the process of ministerial discussions begins. Almost always, the chairperson of the largest party represented in the coalition will serve as prime minister, while chairpeople of smaller parties represented will serve as ministers. Apart from the party chairpeople, the leaders of the coalition must agree to who else will be nominated to serve as the head of each ministry. There are currently 14 ministries, and these ministries are expected to be granted to the parties represented in the government proportionately to the seats they have in parliament.

All nominated ministers must be members of parliament, as Hawaii uses a fused system between their executive and legislative branches. Ministers may vote in parliament, although they typically only vote on consequential bills, but do not serve on committees. After an agreement has been reached on ministerial nominations, parliament will vote to approve or reject the ministry; typically this is simply a formality, as the presumptive prime minister must already have a majority or stable coalition which would easily vote to approve them. After being approved, the prime minister's nominations will be submitted to the Monarch for review. After reviewing them, the Monarch will appoint the prime minister and their nominations into office, or reject the nominations. In practice, the Monarch always appoints the prime minister's nominations, so this nomination veto is merely a *de jure* power.

### Appointment

After the government is sworn into office and take their oath of allegiance to the Monarch, they meet to draft a plan of governance, which is intended to serve as a roadmap for their plans and agenda over the term. After the government agrees on their plan, it is presented to parliament by the prime minister; parliament then votes to accept or reject the plan. In practice, parliament always votes to accept the plan as the prime minister will not be appointed into office without securing a stable path for governing. If parliament were to reject the plan, the government would be sent back to continue revising their plan until it is accepted.

If a minister dies or resigns during their term, then the prime minister may nominate a replacement immediately. The nomination will be reviewed by the Monarch and appointed or rejected, although they are always accepted, and then be appointed into office upon taking their oath to the Monarch. If the prime minister dies or resigns during their term, then they are immediately replaced by a senior member of the government based on the discretion of the Monarch. This individual will serve in the office until the party elects their new chairperson, who will take office as prime minister instead.