S524-119

What This Bill Does

The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 is a broad Coast Guard and maritime governance bill. It updates Coast Guard military strength, training, acquisition, facility, housing, property, and operational authorities; directs reports on Great Lakes icebreaking, Polar Security Cutters, tsunami-zone properties, Pribilof Island transition actions, naloxone, maritime drug trafficking incentives, Taiwan Coast Guard training, maritime surveillance, Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands domain awareness, Alaska travel, Missouri River dayboards, Coast Guard missions, homeporting, Bay-class icebreakers, Operation Blue Pacific, Corpus Christi hangars, JROTC, and multiple GAO studies. It also rewrites or adds major personnel measures, Coast Guard Academy oversight, maritime safety rules, autonomous maritime systems governance, abandoned vessel removal, environmental response, sexual misconduct accountability, NOAA fleet and aviation provisions, and fisheries treaty implementation updates.

Who Benefits and How

Coast Guard servicemembers and families benefit from housing flexibility, morale and recreation funding rules, embedded behavioral health technicians, more counseling access, Unalaska dependent sponsorship, Alaska travel reimbursement, college precommissioning consolidation, tuition-assistance and advanced-education pilots, career flexibility, remote civilian firefighter incentives, and Academy wellness reforms. Coast Guard leadership and operational units benefit from service-life-extension authority, property transaction tools, tactical maritime surveillance systems, direct-hire authority, integrated Taiwan training planning, maritime domain awareness studies, and facility or infrastructure planning. Merchant mariners, maritime operators, vessel traffic service centers, autonomous vessel developers, uncrewed maritime systems firms, port operators, fishing vessel operators, vessel classification societies, and abandoned-vessel removal contractors benefit or receive clearer rules through credentialing modernization, electronic credential systems, performance-driven exams, safety zones, advisory committees, pilots, cyber training, and cleanup authorities. NOAA Marine and Aviation Operations, minority-serving aviation institutions, former NOAA Corps officers, shipbuilders, marine equipment buyers, Alaska Native communities, and North Pacific marine researchers benefit from NOAA fleet, cooperative aviation center, vessel disposal, and North Pacific Research Board changes.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Coast Guard Commandant, Coast Guard Academy Superintendent, Coast Guard Investigative Service, DHS, GAO, NOAA, the National Response Center, and federal maritime regulators must implement extensive new policies, reports, studies, databases, procedures, and oversight processes. Coast Guard leadership faces especially large compliance duties around sexual assault and sexual harassment reforms, including evidence retention, Safe-to-Report policy, covered-misconduct reports, discharge reviews, protective orders, victim-care policy, special-victim capabilities, CATCH participation, senior-leader misconduct transparency, confidential sexual-harassment reporting, Academy policy review, defense sexual-assault database access, personnel-record entries, flag-officer review of separations, expedited transfers, temporary separation access, prevention programs, and training. Commercial vessel operators, fishing vessel operators, deepwater port applicants, passenger vessels, abandoned-vessel owners, autonomous maritime system operators, and maritime facilities may face revised safety, reporting, cyber-incident training, credentialing, stowage, disclosure, or enforcement obligations. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of authorizations, acquisitions, infrastructure, personnel benefits, behavioral health, studies, and NOAA/Coast Guard fleet provisions.

Key Provisions

• Authorizes and updates Coast Guard military strength, training, acquisition, service-life-extension, icebreaking, Polar Security Cutter, floating drydock, and tactical surveillance authorities.
• Expands Coast Guard housing, property, direct-hire, family leave, morale and recreation, behavioral health, counseling, Alaska travel, education, retention, and remote firefighter workforce authorities.
• Creates Coast Guard Academy oversight and safety reforms including a Board of Visitors, Academy oversight study, cadet room security, student advisory board, wellness support review, and concurrent jurisdiction.
• Modernizes merchant mariner credentialing, electronic licensing systems, vessel negligence rules, passenger-vessel security, vessel traffic service monitoring, fishing-vessel requirements, and abandoned-vessel removal law.
• Establishes autonomous maritime systems advisory and pilot authorities, NOAA participation on the Autonomous Vessel Policy Council, uncrewed systems reports, and counter-uncrewed-system definitions.
• Requires oil-spill and environmental-response improvements including salvage and marine firefighting capability review, National Response Center online reporting, and Exxon Valdez fund investment changes.
• Adds a major Coast Guard sexual-misconduct accountability package covering evidence retention, reporting, Safe-to-Report, retaliation, victim support, protective orders, special-victim capabilities, personnel records, and Academy policies.
• Directs GAO and Comptroller General reviews on research and innovation, vessel traffic center employment, behavioral health care, medical records, training facilities, border-security stations, housing allowance, Academy safety, athletic coaching, and permanent-change-of-station processes.
• Updates NOAA fleet operation and maintenance, Cooperative Aviation Centers, former officer hiring eligibility, physical-disqualification standards, vessel disposal, and proceeds reinvestment.
• Revises Pacific fisheries treaty implementation, confidentiality rules, closed-area stowage, fisheries assistance, additional fishing-access agreements, and North Pacific Research Board Alaska Native representation.