Visitors to the official website of the governor of Hawaii may have noticed a new line in the mast: Ke Keena O Ke Kiaaina.

It means “Office of the Governor,” a more or less direct Hawaiian translation of what appears in English above Gov. David Ige’s name two lines up. (The website includes Hawaiian diacritical markings. Spectrum News does not follow this orthography.)

With nothing but simple italics to distinguish it, the very presence of the words nonetheless resounds for those who fought for passage of what is now Act 170 and others who appreciate what incorporating Hawaiian language into official state government stationary and websites signifies to the world.

The site went live with the recent addition on Monday, with the governor taking to social media to note further changes to state websites and official document letterheads in the days and weeks ahead.

Introduced as House Bill 2491 by a bipartisan group of a dozen state representatives, the legislation underwent several amendments as it passed through both chambers and faced further negotiation in conference before being sent to the governor.

In its final form, the act requires that all letterhead of the state and counties include consistent Hawaiian names, words and spelling and mandates that the governor, lieutenant governor, state legislators and heads of principal departments prominently display a Hawaiian translation of the name of their respective office or department at least once on the main page of their official website and in the letterhead of their stationary.

The text of the legislation acknowledges that Hawaiian is Hawaii’s indigenous and first language and that it was the original language of Hawaii’s executive, judicial and legislative branches.

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii.