A bill to authorize the President to promote posthumously the late Lieutenant Colonel Ellison S. Onizuka to the grade of Colonel.
Public Law 99-597 · S. 2948 · 99th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Ronald Reagan (R) on Nov 3, 1986 · Commemorations
Sponsor: Sen. Spark Matsunaga (D-HI)
Cosponsors (1): Sen. Daniel Inouye
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateVoice vote
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
Authorizes the President to promote posthumously, to the grade of colonel, Lieutenant Colonel Ellison S. Onizuka, U.S. Air Force, who died while serving as a crew member on the space shuttle Challenger.
Committees
The record shows no committee referral for this bill.
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 7 actions.
- Nov 3, 1986Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 99-597.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Oct 30, 1986PresidentPresident · Presented to President.
- Oct 18, 1986FloorFloor · Passed House by Voice Vote.
- FloorFloor · Called up by House by Unanimous Consent.
- Oct 17, 1986FloorFloor · Introduced in the Senate, read twice, considered, read the third time, and passed without amendment by Voice Vote.
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in the Senate
Data notes
Shows the introduction, each committee and subcommittee step the source dates (referral, hearings, markup, report, discharge), and the floor, conference, presidential and became-law steps. Calendar placements, messages between the chambers, amendments and committee report numbers are not shown for laws before the 108th Congress. Two entries the source lists twice are shown once.
Official record
The bill’s full text and every action, including introduction and committee steps, are on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.