I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2351
To direct the Commandant of the Coast Guard to update the policy of
the Coast Guard regarding the use of medication to treat drug overdose,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH26, 2025
Mr. M
CDOWELLintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
A BILL
To direct the Commandant of the Coast Guard to update
the policy of the Coast Guard regarding the use of medi-
cation to treat drug overdose, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE ONBOARD VESSELS. 3
Section 70503(a) of title 46, United States Code, is 4
amended— 5
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) by 6
striking ‘‘While on board a covered vessel, an’’ and 7
inserting ‘‘An’’; 8
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(2) by amending paragraph (1) to read as fol-1
lows: 2
‘‘(1) manufacture or distribute, possess with in-3
tent to manufacture or distribute, or place or cause 4
to be placed with intent to manufacture or distribute 5
a controlled substance on board a covered vessel;’’; 6
(3) in paragraph (2) by inserting ‘‘on board a 7
covered vessel’’ before the semicolon; and 8
(4) in paragraph (3) by inserting ‘‘while on 9
board a covered vessel’’ after ‘‘such individual’’. 10
SEC. 2. POLICY AND BRIEFING ON AVAILABILITY OF 11
NALOXONE TO TREAT OPIOID OVERDOSES. 12
(a) P
OLICY.—Not later than 1 year after the date 13
of enactment of this Act, the Commandant of the Coast 14
Guard shall update the policy of the Coast Guard regard-15
ing the use of medication to treat drug overdoses, includ-16
ing the use of naloxone or other similar medication to treat 17
opioid, including fentanyl, overdoses. 18
(b) A
VAILABILITY.—The updated policy required 19
under subsection (a) shall require naloxone or other simi-20
lar medication be available for members of the Coast 21
Guard— 22
(1) on all Coast Guard installations; and 23
(2) in each operational environment. 24
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(c) PARTICIPATION IN TRACKINGSYSTEM.—Not 1
later than 1 year after the earlier of the date of enactment 2
of this Act or the date on which the tracking system estab-3
lished under section 706 of the National Defense Author-4
ization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (10 U.S.C. 1090 note) 5
is established, the Commandant shall ensure the participa-6
tion of the Coast Guard in the such tracking system. 7
(d) M
EMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING.—Not later 8
than 1 year after the earlier of the date of enactment of 9
this Act or the date on which the tracking system estab-10
lished under section 706 of the National Defense Author-11
ization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (10 U.S.C. 1090 note) 12
is established, the Secretary of the department in which 13
the Coast Guard is operating when not operating as a 14
service in the Navy and the Secretary of Defense shall fi-15
nalize a memorandum of understanding to facilitate Coast 16
Guard access such tracking system. 17
(e) B
RIEFING.— 18
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after 19
the date of enactment of this Act, the Commandant 20
shall provide the Committee on Transportation and 21
Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and 22
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Trans-23
portation of the Senate a briefing on the use, by 24
members and personnel of the Coast Guard at Coast 25
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Guard facilities, onboard Coast Guard assets, and 1
during Coast Guard operations, of— 2
(A) naloxone or other similar medication to 3
treat opioid, including fentanyl, overdoses; and 4
(B) opioids, including fentanyl. 5
(2) E
LEMENTS.—The briefing required under 6
paragraph (1) shall include the following: 7
(A) A description of— 8
(i) the progress made in the imple-9
mentation of the updated policy required 10
under subsection (a); 11
(ii) the prevalence and incidence of 12
the illegal use of fentanyl and other con-13
trolled substances in the Coast Guard dur-14
ing the 5-year period preceding the brief-15
ing; 16
(iii) processes of the Coast Guard to 17
mitigate substance abuse in the Coast 18
Guard, particularly with respect to 19
fentanyl; and 20
(iv) the status of the memorandum of 21
understanding required under subsection 22
(d). 23
(B) For the 5-year period preceding the 24
briefing, a review of instances in which 25
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naloxone or other similar medication was used 1
to treat opioid, including fentanyl, overdoses at 2
a Coast Guard facility, onboard a Coast Guard 3
asset, or during a Coast Guard operation. 4
(f) P
RIVACY.—In carrying out the requirements of 5
this section, the Commandant shall ensure compliance 6
with all applicable privacy law, including section 552a of 7
title 5, United States Code (commonly referred to as the 8
‘‘Privacy Act’’), and the privacy regulations promulgated 9
under section 264(c) of the Health Insurance Portability 10
and Accountability Act (42 U.S.C. 1320d–2 note). 11
(g) R
ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—For purposes of the 12
availability requirement under subsection (b), with respect 13
to a Coast Guard installation comprised of multiple Coast 14
Guard facilities or units, naloxone or other similar medica-15
tion available at a single Coast Guard facility within the 16
installation shall be considered to be available to all Coast 17
Guard facilities or units on the installation if appropriate 18
arrangements are in place to ensure access, at all times 19
during operations, to the naloxone or other similar medica-20
tion contained within such single Coast Guard facility. 21
Æ
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