Kei muri i te awe kāpara he tangata kē/Behind the tattooed face a stranger stands/Seeking understandings beyond first impressions/Recognising, engaging, understanding difference

Senator Clayton Hee

Position/Institution: 
Chairman, Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs, Hawaii State Senate

A keiki o ka ‘āina, Clayton Hee was born, raised, and still lives on the windward side of O‘ahu. He is an educator by profession, and has spent 24 years in elective office and public service. He currently chairs the Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture and Hawaiian Affairs of the Hawai‘i State Senate.
 
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In June 2008 Hee received the Arthur P. McCormick Award from the Hawaiian Humane Society for his work in protecting animals, most recently for authoring legislation making cruelty to animals a felony and including for the first time equines (horses) in the protected category. In 2010, Hee introduced and was instrumental in passing the first ban on shark-finning in the entire country, making Hawai‘i the lead state in helping to end this practice devastating to the ocean's ecology.  A horseman, Hee is a member and competitor of the Hawai‘i Rodeo Association. He was President of the Student Body his senior year at Kamehameha Schools.
 
A native Hawaiian, Hee has studied in several areas of the Pacific while earning a Masters Degree in Pacific Islands Program, a multi-disciplinary program whose core belief is that in Oceania the Pacific islands are connected by the sea which binds us as Pacific people one to another.
 
As Chairman of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs he passed programs to benefit Hawaiians including low-interest mortgages for Hawaiian Homelands residents, funding for Hawaiian language programs, the creation of the Ke‘elikōlani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawai‘i, the establishment of the Master of Arts Degree in Hawaiian Language and the establishment of the Ph.D. in Hawaiian language, and cultural revitalization . He oversaw the growth of OHA’s assets from 19 million dollars in 1990 to over $400 million dollars during his tenure as Chairman.

He has a strong legislative record of supporting the environment, organized labor, programs benefiting Hawai‘i’s lower-income residents and furthering the interests of native Hawaiians and Pacific islanders.