§2535 — Title 14 Coast Guard | U.S. Code

Summary

Within 90 days after the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 becomes law, the Commandant must work with the Secretaries of the military departments to create and publish a safe-to-report policy. The policy must cover everyone in the Coast Guard, including reserve and auxiliary members, Coast Guard Academy cadets, and people training at Coast Guard entry points. The policy must say how to handle minor misconduct by a sexual assault victim or a witness who reports an assault. It applies no matter who gets the report or whether military or civilian authorities handle the case. The Commandant must list what makes misconduct less or more serious and must set up anonymous tracking for these incidents. "Minor collateral misconduct" means small offenses under chapter 47 of title 10 that happen near or during the alleged assault, are found because of the report or investigation, and do not include those listed aggravating factors.

Title 14, §2535

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(a)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)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)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)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)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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