Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025

Purpose & Problem

Is the problem real and worth federal action?

The bill authorizes funding for the Coast Guard through fiscal year 2029 and creates a new civilian Secretary of the Coast Guard position. It also updates personnel policies, strengthens responses to sexual misconduct, and sets rules for shipping and navigation safety.

Scope & Related Provisions

Does it stay focused, or carry unrelated add-ons?

Most sections stay focused on Coast Guard operations, staffing, and oversight. A few sections address matters outside core Coast Guard operations, including a provision investing Exxon Valdez oil spill court recovery funds in marine research, a section shifting deepwater port permitting authority to the Transportation Department, and a provision suspending new Hudson River anchorage grounds for 20 years.

Who Is Affected

Who benefits, and who bears the cost?

Active duty and reserve Coast Guard members gain expanded family leave, behavioral health services, and new misconduct protections. Merchant mariners face revised credentialing and sea service requirements. Vessel owners and commercial shipping operators face updated safety inspection, drug trafficking, and port security rules. The Coast Guard as an agency takes on new reporting duties and organizational restructuring responsibilities.

Cost & Funding

Is it affordable and responsibly funded?

The bill authorizes operations and support funds of roughly $11.3 billion for fiscal year 2025, rising to $15.5 billion for fiscal year 2029. Separate amounts are authorized for acquisition and for retired pay each year. These figures are authorized amounts, not confirmed appropriations or CBO cost estimates. The bill also requires the Coast Guard to spend federal money on new personnel positions and pilot programs without specifying additional dollar amounts for each.

Risks & Implementation

What could go wrong in practice?

The bill requires the Coast Guard to grow from roughly 44,500 to 60,000 active members by fiscal year 2029, which depends on recruiting and training capacity the bill does not guarantee. Creating the new Secretary of the Coast Guard position requires a reorganization plan that must be reviewed before the President can fill the role, adding steps that could delay implementation.

TITLE I--COAST GUARD

This title authorizes funding for the Coast Guard from 2025 through 2029, with amounts growing from about $11.3 billion to $15.5 billion per year for operations. It also raises the allowed number of active-duty Coast Guard members from 44,500 to as many as 60,000 and increases training slots. Additionally, it sets new rules requiring the Coast Guard to regularly report to Congress on acquisitions, homeporting projects, aircraft fleets, Polar Security Cutters, and Pacific operations.

TITLE II--ORGANIZATION, AUTHORITIES, ACQUISITION, AND PERSONNEL OF THE COAST GUARD

This title reshapes how the Coast Guard is led and run. It creates a new civilian Secretary of the Coast Guard position, limits the Commandant to one reappointment, adds a Special Advisor for Tribal and Native Hawaiian Affairs, and updates rules on cyber assistance, construction projects, training, and tsunami preparedness plans for Coast Guard properties. It also clarifies the Coast Guard's primary duties in areas like search and rescue, drug interdiction, and marine safety.

TITLE III--SHIPPING AND NAVIGATION

This title updates rules for merchant mariners, including reducing how long they must work at sea before earning certain credentials and allowing more training time to count toward sea service. It also updates vessel safety rules, such as making grossly negligent vessel operation a felony when it causes serious injury, and strengthens port security by adding protections against cyber threats and barring representatives of state sponsors of terrorism from port facilities. Additionally, it creates an advisory committee on autonomous maritime systems and sets up a pilot program for small uncrewed vessels used by NOAA.

TITLE IV--OIL POLLUTION RESPONSE

This title strengthens how the Coast Guard and related agencies prepare for and respond to oil spills and marine fires. It requires vessel inspections, adds rules about response equipment, restricts legal challenges during active oil spill cleanups, and directs the National Response Center to build an online system for reporting oil and hazardous substance releases. It also updates the Canada-US Joint Maritime Pollution Contingency Plan and clarifies rules for using non-dedicated vessels in oil spill responses in Alaskan waters.

TITLE V--SEXUAL ASSAULT AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT RESPONSE

This title requires the Coast Guard to strengthen its response to sexual assault and sexual harassment within the service. It directs the Government Accountability Office to review Coast Guard reform efforts, creates new rules for keeping evidence and records related to sexual misconduct for up to 50 years, and establishes a safe-to-report policy so that victims who report assaults are protected from punishment for minor related misconduct. It also gives Coast Guard Academy cadets who are assault victims the right to request a transfer to another military academy, and requires regular reports to Congress on misconduct incidents.

TITLE VI--COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORTS

This title requires the Comptroller General (head of the Government Accountability Office) to conduct several studies and submit reports to Congress about Coast Guard operations. The topics covered include research and innovation programs, behavioral health care for personnel, medical records management, training facility conditions, housing allowances, Academy security, and the process for moving personnel between duty stations. Each study has a set deadline and must include specific findings and recommendations.

TITLE VII--AMENDMENTS

This title makes technical corrections to existing laws, such as fixing punctuation errors, updating outdated section references, and renaming a Coast Guard district from 'Seventeenth Coast Guard District' to 'Coast Guard Arctic District.' It also moves and reorganizes certain legal provisions within the U.S. Code to keep the law consistent and accurate. No new programs, funding, or major policy changes are created.