---
type: "Bill"
title: "RELATING TO DISABILITY AWARENESS."
description: "Designates the month of October as \"Disability Awareness Month: Employment, Enrichment, and Inclusion\" in recognition of the employment challenges and successes of persons with disabilities in the State. (SD1)"
jurisdiction: "us/states/hi"
legislature: "Hawaii Legislature"
session: "2023 Regular Session"
identifier: "HB 794"
citation: "Hawaii HB 794 (2023 Regular Session)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Disability Awareness Month", "October"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["AMATO", "CHUN", "COCHRAN", "GATES", "HASHIMOTO", "KAPELA", "KOBAYASHI", "LAMOSAO", "MARTEN", "MIZUNO", "ONISHI", "PERRUSO", "POEPOE", "TAM"]
version_count: 3
action_count: 39
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2023-01-20"
last_action: "2023-07-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/481cd9c6-d0e8-4ff6-86f4-7eb36d869ce0"
source_url: "https://capitol.hawaii.gov/session/measure_indiv.aspx?billtype=HB&billnumber=794&year=2023"
source_hash: "04e3538ca4a96f58a4f846f5970d7826adb6b8bcbf16d6fe579885c455ca1cae"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-hi"]
---

# Hawaii HB 794 (2023 Regular Session) — RELATING TO DISABILITY AWARENESS.

Designates the month of October as "Disability Awareness Month: Employment, Enrichment, and Inclusion" in recognition of the employment challenges and successes of persons with disabilities in the State. (SD1)

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **HB794** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2023/bills/HB794_.HTM)
2. **HB794_HD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2023/bills/HB794_HD1_.HTM)
3. **HB794_SD1** (committee substitute) — [source](https://capitol.hawaii.gov/sessions/session2023/bills/HB794_SD1_.HTM)

## Votes

- Reconsider: The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. — **9–0** (pass) · lower
- Reconsider: The committee(s) on TCA recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- The committee on CAI recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- The committee on HLT recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- The committee(s) on HHS recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. — **4–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- AMATO — primary (person)
- CHUN — primary (person)
- COCHRAN — primary (person)
- GATES — primary (person)
- HASHIMOTO — primary (person)
- KAPELA — primary (person)
- KOBAYASHI — primary (person)
- LAMOSAO — primary (person)
- MARTEN — primary (person)
- MIZUNO — primary (person)
- ONISHI — primary (person)
- PERRUSO — primary (person)
- POEPOE — primary (person)
- TAM — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-07-07** Act 245, 07/07/2023 (Gov. Msg. No. 1348). `became-law`
- **2023-07-07** Act 245, on 07/07/2023 (Gov. Msg. No. 1348). `became-law`
- **2023-04-28** Transmitted to Governor.
- **2023-04-28** Received notice of House agreement and passage on Final Reading (Hse. Com. No. 890). `receipt`
- **2023-04-27** Passed Final Reading as amended in SD 1 with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Ganaden excused (1). `passage`
- **2023-04-27** House agrees to Senate amendment(s).
- **2023-04-27** Received notice of discharge of conferees (Hse. Com. No. 875). `receipt`
- **2023-04-27** Received notice of House reconsideration of action in disagreeing to the amendments proposed by the Senate (Hse. Com. No. 871). `receipt`
- **2023-04-25** Reconsideration of action taken on 03-31-23.
- **2023-04-25** House Conferee(s) discharged.
- **2023-04-24** Received notice of Senate conferees (Sen. Com. No. 975). `receipt`
- **2023-04-24** Senate Conferees Appointed: Shimabukuro Chair; Lee Co-Chair; Moriwaki.
- **2023-04-24** Received notice of appointment of House conferees (Hse. Com. No. 837). `receipt`
- **2023-04-21** House Conferees Appointed: Tam, Belatti, Tarnas Co-Chairs; Amato, Souza.
- **2023-04-03** Received notice of disagreement (Hse. Com. No. 512). `receipt`
- **2023-03-31** House disagrees with Senate amendment (s). `amendment-failure`
- **2023-03-30** Returned from Senate (Sen. Com. No. 522) in amended form (SD 1).
- **2023-03-30** Passed Third Reading, as amended (SD 1). Ayes, 23; Aye(s) with reservations: none . Noes, 0 (none). Excused, 2 (Senator(s) Fukunaga, Richards). Transmitted to House. `passage`
- **2023-03-28** 48 Hrs. Notice 03-30-23.
- **2023-03-28** Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1). `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-28** Reported from HHS/TCA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 1427) with recommendation of passage on Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and placement on the calendar for Third Reading.
- **2023-03-21** The committee(s) on TCA recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in TCA were as follows: 5 Aye(s): Senator(s) Lee, Inouye, Elefante, Keohokalole, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 0 Excused: none. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-21** The committee(s) on HHS recommend(s) that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes in HHS were as follows: 4 Aye(s): Senator(s) San Buenaventura, Aquino, Moriwaki, Awa; Aye(s) with reservations: none ; 0 No(es): none; and 1 Excused: Senator(s) Shimabukuro. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-03-16** The committee(s) on HHS/TCA has scheduled a public hearing on 03-21-23 3:05PM; Conference Room 224 & Videoconference.
- **2023-03-09** Referred to HHS/TCA. `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-07** Passed First Reading. `reading-1`
- **2023-03-07** Received from House (Hse. Com. No. 180). `introduction, receipt`
- **2023-03-03** Passed Third Reading with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Alcos, Matayoshi excused (2). Transmitted to Senate. `passage`
- **2023-03-03** Reported from JHA (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 990), recommending passage on Third Reading.
- **2023-03-01** The committee on JHA recommend that the measure be PASSED, UNAMENDED. The votes were as follows: 9 Ayes: Representative(s) Tarnas, Takayama, Ganaden, Holt, Hashimoto, Ilagan, Kong, Mizuno, Souza; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Ichiyama. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-02-27** Bill scheduled to be heard by JHA on Wednesday, 03-01-23 2:00PM in House conference room 325 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
- **2023-02-17** Passed Second Reading as amended in HD 1 and referred to the committee(s) on JHA with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Marten excused (1). `reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-02-17** Reported from CAI/HLT (Stand. Com. Rep. No. 600) as amended in HD 1, recommending passage on Second Reading and referral to JHA.
- **2023-02-15** The committee on HLT recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 5 Ayes: Representative(s) Belatti, Takenouchi, Amato, Ilagan, Kobayashi; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 3 Excused: Representative(s) Mizuno, Nishimoto, Garcia. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-02-15** The committee on CAI recommend that the measure be PASSED, WITH AMENDMENTS. The votes were as follows: 6 Ayes: Representative(s) Tam, Martinez, Garrett, Kapela, Matayoshi, Alcos; Ayes with reservations: none; Noes: none; and 1 Excused: Representative(s) Sayama. `committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-02-10** Bill scheduled to be heard by CAI/HLT on Wednesday, 02-15-23 10:15AM in House conference room 309 VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE.
- **2023-01-30** Referred to CAI/HLT, JHA, referral sheet 3 `referral-committee`
- **2023-01-23** Introduced and Pass First Reading. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-01-20** Pending introduction.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/481cd9c6-d0e8-4ff6-86f4-7eb36d869ce0`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Hawaii legislature records).