HR2406-119

What This Bill Does

H.R. 2406 revises NOAA's existing prevention and response framework for sexual harassment and assault. It expands case and equal-employment reporting, creates explicit confidentiality exceptions and a restricted-reporting update deadline, and establishes Coast Guard reporting for specified mariner incidents. The bill covers NOAA employees and commissioned officers as well as people working with or on behalf of NOAA, expressly including fisheries and protected-species observers, monitors, and regional fishery council members and staff. It does not appropriate additional money.

Who Benefits and How

NOAA employees and commissioned officers gain a clearer confidential route to victim services without automatically starting an investigation. Fisheries observers and regional fishery council staff receive explicit coverage, including work on privately owned vessels, platforms, and shoreside processing facilities. Congress receives more information about case outcomes, transfer requests and denials, and incidents involving observers. Victim advocates and healthcare providers may receive identifying information when needed to provide services.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Department of Commerce and NOAA must expand records, update reporting policies within three years, handle privacy safeguards, and coordinate notifications. The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations director is the defined responsible entity for NOAA-owned or NOAA-operated vessels; the bill should not be read as assigning that duty to every private fishing-vessel owner. The Coast Guard receives immediate reports and licensed-mariner referrals. Victims retain confidentiality subject to consent, serious or imminent safety threats, services, and legal-disclosure exceptions. Covered mariners face increased reporting and potential investigation, while people convicted of the specified sexual offenses face a service bar in the NOAA commissioned corps.

Key Provisions

• Requires annual case summaries to cover sexual harassment, equal employment, transfer requests and denials, Coast Guard referrals, and observer incidents with their investigation status and locations.
• Authorizes limited disclosure of victim identity for written consent, safety threats, services, court orders, or statutory requirements, and requires reasonable notice attempts and privacy safeguards.
• Requires a restricted-reporting system update within three years so covered victims may obtain services without an automatic investigation.
• Requires immediate unrestricted mariner-incident reports by the defined responsible entity using the fastest available telecommunications channel, with restricted-report exceptions and redacted internal notifications.
• Expands the fisheries observer-interference prohibition by deleting the force qualifier and vessel-only limitation, and extends the specified sexual-offense service prohibition to the NOAA commissioned corps.