14 U.S.C. § 2535: Safe-to-Report policy for…

Summary

The Commandant must create and publish a clear safe-to-report policy within 90 days after the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 is enacted. The Commandant must work with the Secretaries of the military departments. The policy must cover all Coast Guard members, including reserve and auxiliary members, Coast Guard Academy cadets, and people training at Coast Guard entry points. It must explain how to handle minor misconduct that comes up when a member is a sexual-assault victim or a reporting witness. The rules apply no matter who the victim tells or whether military or civilian authorities handle the case. The Commandant must say what facts make the misconduct less serious and what facts make it more serious. The Commandant must also set up an anonymous way to track these incidents. “Minor collateral misconduct” means a small offense that could be punished under military law, that happened close in time to or during the assault and is directly related, was found because of the assault report or investigation, and does not include the more serious factors the policy will list.

Title 14, §2535

Coast Guard, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In General.—

Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025, the Commandant shall, in consultation with the Secretaries of the military departments, establish and maintain a detailed and publicly available safe-to-report policy described in subsection (b) that applies with respect to all members of the Coast Guard (including members of the reserve and auxiliary components of the Coast Guard), cadets at the Coast Guard Academy, and any other individual undergoing training at an accession point of the Coast Guard.

(b)Safe-to-Report Policy.—

The safe-to-report policy described in this subsection is a policy that—

(1)prescribes the handling of minor collateral misconduct, involving a member of the Coast Guard who is the alleged victim or reporting witness of a sexual assault; and

(2)applies to all such individuals, regardless of—

(A)to whom the victim makes the allegation or who receives the victim’s report of sexual assault; or

(B)whether the report, investigation, or prosecution is handled by military or civilian authorities.

(c)Mitigating and Aggravating Circumstances.—

In issuing the policy under subsection (a), the Commandant shall specify mitigating circumstances that decrease the gravity of minor collateral misconduct or the impact of such misconduct on good order and discipline and aggravating circumstances that increase the gravity of minor collateral misconduct or the impact of such misconduct on good order and discipline for purposes of the safe-to-report policy.

(d)Tracking of Collateral Misconduct Incidents.—

In conjunction with the issuance of the policy under subsection (a), the Commandant shall develop and implement a process to anonymously track incidents of minor collateral misconduct that are subject to the safe-to-report policy.

(e)Minor Collateral Misconduct Defined.—

In this section, the term “minor collateral misconduct” means any minor misconduct that is potentially punishable under chapter 47 of title 10 that—

(1)is committed close in time to or during a sexual assault and directly related to the incident that formed the basis of the allegation of sexual assault allegation;

(2)is discovered as a direct result of the report of sexual assault or the ensuing investigation into such sexual assault; and

(3)does not involve aggravating circumstances (as specified in the policy issued under subsection (a)) that increase the gravity of the minor misconduct or the impact of such misconduct on good order and discipline.

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The date of enactment of the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025, referred to in subsec. (a), is the date of enactment of div. G of Pub. L. 119–60, which was approved Dec. 18, 2025.

§2535 Safe-to-report Policy for Coast Guard

Summary

Title 14, §2535

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

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