12.11.24

Sullivan, Cantwell, Cruz, Baldwin Introduce Bipartisan Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2024

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) introduced bipartisan legislation that would authorize $30.45 billion for the U.S. Coast Guard for Fiscal Years 2025 and 2026.

“My colleagues on the Commerce Committee and I have crafted a bill that makes great strides in fulfilling our commitment to this branch of the U.S. military with the support, funding and attention the U.S. Coast Guard deserves,” Senator Sullivan said. “As America’s only state with Arctic territory and with more coastline than the entire Lower 48 combined, Alaska is critical to the Coast Guard’s missions in defense of our nation. From expanded travel privileges for Alaska-based service members to visit home, to additional funds for local infrastructure projects, this legislation builds upon the strong relationship between Alaska communities and our Alaska-based Coast Guard members by authorizing projects that will make it easier for our service members and their families to live in the Last Frontier. Going forward, we should work to ensure that the Coast Guard reauthorizations are attached to the National Defense Authorization Act, so that we aren’t introducing this important bill at the last minute.”

“This legislation prioritizes the Coast Guard’s most important asset—its people,” said Senator Cantwell. “For the first time, our bill creates a Vice Admiral for Personnel, solely focused on the needs of Coast Guard members and their families, including expanding access to affordable housing, quality health care, child care and mental health services. The bill drives much needed reforms that will help prevent sexual assault and harassment throughout the Coast Guard, including establishing confidential reporting, strengthening protective orders, expanding access to care for victims, and stronger accountability for leadership. It increases funding for core Coast Guard missions such as Icebreakers, cracking down on illegal fishing and drug smuggling, and improving collaboration with local Tribes. The bill also makes infrastructure investments in Washington, Alaska, the Great Lakes, the Arctic and global partners to protect our national security.”

“The U.S. Coast Guard plays an indispensable role in keeping Americans safe at sea and enforcing the rule of law both in America’s waters and beyond,” said Senator Cruz. “Our bipartisan, bicameral Coast Guard Reauthorization Act will optimize marine safety resources in Texas, streamline vessel inspection requirements, and ensure the safe and efficient transportation of U.S. energy. This legislation also seeks to rectify instances of indefensible treatment endured by some victims of sexual assault in the Coast Guard. I am thankful for the continued efforts of my colleagues, including Chairwoman Cantwell and subcommittee leaders Sens. Baldwin and Sullivan, and I look forward to working to ensure this legislation swiftly becomes law.”

“Our Coast Guard is essential in keeping our country safe and our economy moving forward,” said Senator Baldwin. “Our bipartisan bill doubles down on the incredible work our Coast Guard does, investing in patrolling waters from here on our Great Lakes to keep commerce moving and boaters safe to the Indopacific to crack down on fentanyl trafficking and protect our country. Most of all, our bill invests in our Coasties. We came together to boost access to affordable housing, increase the availability of quality health care, and, in light of the egregious reports of sexual misconduct at the Coast Guard Academy, we are taking positive steps to protect survivors and reform the Coast Guard to ensure it is a safe place for everyone.”

The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2024 authorizes $14.93 billion for FY25 and $15.51 billion for FY26 and would support the following national priorities: 
Bill Text and Section-By-Section

Coast Guard Workforce 

  • Creates the First Vice Admiral of Personnel: To support the more than 40,000 active service members, the bill establishes a new Vice Admiral leadership position solely focused on supporting the needs of personnel and their families, from housing to health care, child care and improving recruitment and training programs.
  • Jumpstarts Hiring of Health and Family Service Providers Across Entire Service: Provides direct hiring authority to swiftly fill more than a hundred vacancies, including behavioral and mental health professionals, medical specialists, child care service providers, housing supervisors, criminal investigators and other positions to protect the wellbeing of Coast Guard members and their families. It also adds two new telemedicine rooms at the Coast Guard Academy.
  • Protects Personnel from Illicit Drug Exposure: Requires all Coast Guard installations to maintain a supply of naloxone, or similar medication, to treat potential opioid or fentanyl exposure while carrying out illegal drug interdiction missions and when responding to search and rescue calls from the public.
  • Improves College-to-Service Career Pathways: Updates the College Student Pre-Commissioning Program to allow more colleges and universities to participate and to increase recruitment of students interested in commissioning into a Coast Guard career.
  • Supports Servicemembers in Alaska: Expands travel benefits for any members stationed in Alaska to be able to visit their families in other states more frequently. It also allows personnel stationed at Dutch Harbor in Alaska to now bring their families with them on the assignment.

Coast Guard Missions and Infrastructure  

  • Expands Affordable Housing Opportunities: Allows the Coast Guard to acquire housing that is available on the market and in new housing construction programs. This is particularly important in coastal and Great Lakes areas where it’s hard for Coast Guard families to find affordable, quality housing. This bill also expands the Coast Guard's ability to enter into long-term leases for medical facilities, child development centers and training facilities, reducing administrative expenses and allowing for additional improvements to these facilities.
  • Expedites Icebreaker Construction: Speeds the delivery of a new icebreaker for the Great Lakes at least as capable as the Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, which is critical to the Great Lakes region and our national economy. This also requires the Coast Guard to begin developing a replacement plan for the aging 50-year-old icebreaking tug fleet, the backbone of ice operations on the Great Lakes and in the Northeast. Sen. Baldwin held a field hearing in Green Bay, Wisconsin, in March 2024 to highlight the importance of the Great Lakes icebreakers.
  • Maps Arctic Maritime Routes: The Bering Sea is expected to see increased fishing, commercial, and other vessel traffic over the coming decades. As a key international trade and maritime route, this bill requires an analysis of projected traffic in the Bering Strait, and the emergency response capabilities and infrastructure needed to support this increased vessel traffic and prevent oil spills in the Bering Sea and the Arctic.
  • Boosts International Pacific Cooperation: Requires the Coast Guard to develop a plan to increase training opportunities with the other nations, including the Taiwan Coast Guard. This coordination will strengthen American relations, combat illegal fishing, and boost international security in the Pacific.

Maritime Industry and Public Safety

  • Holds Vessel Operators Accountable for Negligence: With the steady rise of vessel traffic in our waterways, the bill increases the penalty for individuals who operate a vessel in a grossly negligent manner that results in serious bodily injury.
  • Expands Smuggling Enforcement at Sea: To adapt to emerging technologies and to cut down on illegal maritime drug smuggling, this bill expands criminal enforcement to include drug smuggling using unmanned or autonomous vessels. The Committee held a subcommittee hearing on improving Coast Guard drug interdiction and enforcement in September 2024.
  • Clears Red Tape for Maritime Jobs: A 2021 report from the International Shipping Chamber estimated a shortage of 26,000 officers certified to work on ships in international waters, with the number expected to triple by 2026. The bill creates new training and credentialing opportunities for qualified mariners, veterans and the general public who are seeking to become mariners. And it expedites processing times for merchant mariner licensing documents to help close this critical workforce gap.
  • Improves Port & Maritime Cyber Response: Allows the Coast Guard to conduct new training exercises with port and maritime facility operators to improve cyber readiness and protect against any cyber threats to our maritime transportation system.

Tribes and Natural Resources

  • Creates the First-Ever Tribal Advisor: Creates a new civilian employee position within the Coast Guard to advise the Commandant and other Coast Guard leadership on tribal affairs, such as government-to-government consultation, pollution response, fisheries enforcement and other matters important to tribes and Native Hawaiians.
  • Boosts Local Partnerships to Improve Conservation:Provides the Coast Guard with new authorities to support habitat conservation and other resilience projects with state, local and tribal governments. This important provision would ensure tribes and other organizations can partner with the Coast Guard to protect treaty fishing rights and maintain access to cultural and natural resources.
  • Sustains the Whale Desk: Extends the Cetacean Desk at Coast Guard Puget Sound Command Center by two years, through FY2028. Created by the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2022, the “Whale Desk” gives Puget Sound vessel operators and mariners near real-time data about the location of whales to reduce encounters that disturb whales, including noise pollution and ship strikes.
  • Prepares Tsunami Evacuation Plans: Requires the development of tsunami evacuation and preparedness plans for Coast Guard units in tsunami zones, including across the West Coast and Pacific Northwest. It also requires the Coast Guard to consider vertical evacuation as a lifesaving option for Coast Guard members.
  • Supports the Commercial Fishing Industry: Continues to authorize the use of a satellite tracking system to mark fishing equipment locations, which ensures commercial fishing gear is not lost and avoids potential damage by derelict gear. It also supports fishing vessels engaging in temporary towing operations as part of salmon hatchery development in Alaska.
  • Cracks Down on Abandonment of Vessels: Improves oversight of derelict and abandoned vessels by requiring the Coast Guard to develop and maintain an inventory list of these vessels to improve tracking, management, and coordination between federal, state, tribal and other relevant entities. It authorizes a new federal penalty for abandoning vessels.

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

  • Supports NOAA Corps Officers: To support the hundreds of commissioned officers, the bill makes improvements to personnel management, education assistance programs, pilot recruitment programs and more. NOAA Corps members help manage maritime research, support disaster response and monitor weather forecasting, including onboard the hurricane hunter aircraft.
  • Modernizes NOAA Vessel Fleet: Authorizes replacement and modernization of the NOAA research vessel fleet and improves oversight of the fleet.
  • Removes Aging NOAA Vessels: Allows NOAA to use the proceeds of obsolete vessel sales to support the acquisition or repair of other NOAA vessels.

Combatting Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment

This bill establishes and updates numerous Coast Guard and Academy authorities and programs to improve response, prevention, oversight, reporting and accountability related to sexual misconduct.  

Victim Support

  • Addresses Expedited Transfers for Victims: To ensure victims of sexual assault and domestic violence feel safe, particularly if they are experiencing retaliation, the bill requires the Coast Guard to develop processes that are consistent with DOD for transferring members who are victims to a new unit. This includes requiring consideration of the victim’s career path when determining the transfer location, and recusal of officials involved in the approval or denial of an expedited transfer who may have a conflict of interest. The bill also establishes the opportunity for Coast Guard Academy cadets who are sexual assault victims to transfer to a DOD service academy, which students attending one of the DOD academies have had since 2020.???  
  • Strengthens Protective Orders for Victims:? Reforms the process for victims of domestic abuse or sex-related offenses to obtain protective orders prohibiting perpetrators from contacting or communicating with them. Previously, many victims were not aware of the process for obtaining an order and Coast Guard procedures placed a heavy burden on victims to renew the orders themselves every 90 days.   
  • Establishes Confidential Reporting of Sexual Harassment:Requires the Coast Guard to develop a process for members to report sexual harassment in a confidential manner. This will improve access to programs and services by providing more avenues for reporting sexual harassment and allow members a reporting option that the DOD services have had since 2021.  
  • Expedites Victim Access to Records and Expands Records Retention: In response to whistleblower concerns about lengthy delays in receiving case files, this bill requires victims to receive expedited access to records associated with their reported assault. Additionally, this provision specifies what documents must be included and retained in case files and expands the retention timeframes to address the discovery from Operation Fouled Anchor that relevant documents and other evidence often were not retained. 
  • Requires Door Locks on Coast Guard Academy Cadet Dorm Rooms: Requires installation of electronic door locks on each dorm room at the Coast Guard Academy and requires the Coast Guard to maintain the identity of individuals who electronically accesses a cadet room. Unauthorized room entries were a factor in the majority of incident cases in Operation Fouled Anchor that occurred on campus. Allowing cadets to lock their doors has been recommended by victims and individuals in the Coast Guard for more than 25 years.
  • Overhauls Sexual Misconduct Training: Requires new, specified sexual misconduct training content tailored to command leadership, first responders and all Coast Guard members. This will ensure that members are educated about victim support resources and other programs that are modified in this bill, including: 
    • Expedited transfers 
    • No-contact orders 
    • Military and civilian protective orders 
    • Temporary separation 
    • Recommendations from the Commandant’s Accountability and Transparency Review that have been codified in law
  • Expands Victim Access to Medical Exams Upon Involuntary Separation: Victims of sexual assault often suffer from behavioral health conditions such as anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder that can manifest more than two years after an incident. This provision expands eligibility for medical exams for those facing an involuntary separation from two years to five years after a reported incident, and now includes any behavioral health condition listed in the DSM, rather than what is currently covered: traumatic brain injuries and PTSD. 

Accountability and Oversight

  • Institutes Accountability for Retired Offenders: The bill explicitly codifies the Coast Guard’s authority to reconsider and reduce the rank of a retired commissioned officer, affecting their pension, if substantial evidence comes to light that the officer acted with disregard for relevant laws, committed sexual assault or failed to report instances of sexual assault with an intent to defraud or deceive. 
  • Requires Sexual Misconduct to be Recorded in Personnel Service Records: Requires information regarding substantiated sexual misconduct to be placed in personnel records of members and to be considered in civilian hiring. According to findings and recommendations in the Coast Guard’s Culture of Respect Report, and underscored by whistleblowers, misconduct has not been appropriately considered in the past.  
  • Improves Security Clearance Oversight: The bill also requires the Coast Guard to improve oversight of security clearances for perpetrators.?The bill adds the Coast Guard to DOD’s statutory requirements specifying that security clearance adjudicators consider convictions or determinations by commanding officers that an individual committed sexual assault, sexual harassment, fraud or other violations that could make the individual susceptible to blackmail.  
  • Transfers Investigations of Senior Leader Misconduct from Coast Guard to DHS IG: Requires any credible allegation of misconduct, as defined by DOD policy, made against a Coast Guard senior officer or Senior Executive Service member to be referred to the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General, rather than being internally investigated by the Coast Guard. 
  • Demands Reporting of Retaliation Against Victims: Requires documentation of all reports of retaliation related to sexual misconduct made by Coast Guard personnel and to include information about sexual misconduct cases involving retaliation in the Coast Guard’s annual reports to Congress.?The bill adds the Coast Guard to the DOD’s statutory requirements to better assist the Coast Guard and Congress in understanding the extent to which retaliation is occurring. 

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