I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2406
To amend the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017
to address sexual harassment and sexual assault involving National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration personnel, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH27, 2025
Ms. B
ONAMICI(for herself, Ms. SALAZAR, and Mr. HUFFMAN) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2017 to address sexual harassment and sexual as-
sault involving National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration personnel, 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. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Oceanic and 4
Atmospheric Administration Sexual Harassment and As-5
sault Prevention Improvements Act of 2025’’. 6
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SEC. 2. REFERENCES. 1
Except as otherwise specifically provided, whenever in 2
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 3
of an amendment to, or repeal of, a provision, the ref-4
erence shall be considered to be made to a provision of 5
subtitle C of title XXXV of the National Defense Author-6
ization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 (33 U.S.C. 894 et seq.). 7
SEC. 3. POLICY ON PREVENTION OF AND RESPONSE TO 8
SEXUAL HARASSMENT INVOLVING NATIONAL 9
OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRA-10
TION PERSONNEL. 11
Section 3541(f) (33 U.S.C. 894(f)) is amended— 12
(1) by inserting ‘‘and equal employment’’ after 13
‘‘sexual harassment’’ in each place it appears; and 14
(2) in paragraph (2)— 15
(A) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) 16
and (D) as subparagraphs (D) and (E), respec-17
tively; and 18
(B) by inserting after subparagraph (B) 19
the following: 20
‘‘(C) Relevant data, including— 21
‘‘(i) a synopsis of each case and the 22
disciplinary action taken, if any, with re-23
spect to each such case; and 24
‘‘(ii) data collected pursuant to the 25
Notification and Federal Employee Anti-26
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discrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002 1
(5 U.S.C. 2301 note).’’. 2
SEC. 4. ANNUAL REPORT ON SEXUAL HARASSMENT, SEX-3
UAL ASSAULT, AND EQUAL EMPLOYMENT. 4
Section 3548 (33 U.S.C. 894e) is amended— 5
(1) by striking the section heading and insert-6
ing the ‘‘
ANNUAL REPORT ON SEXUAL HARASS -7
MENT, SEXUAL ASSAULT , AND EQUAL EMPLOY -8
MENT IN NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOS -9
PHERIC ADMINISTRATION ’’. 10
(2) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘the sexual as-11
saults involving’’ and inserting ‘‘sexual harassment 12
and sexual assault cases involving, and the equal 13
employment of,’’; 14
(3) in subsection (b)— 15
(A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘as-16
saults’’ and inserting ‘‘harassment and sexual 17
assault cases’’; 18
(B) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘, in-19
cluding a synopsis of each sexual harassment 20
and equal employment case and the disciplinary 21
action taken, if any, with respect to each such 22
case’’ before the period at the end; and 23
(C) by adding at the end the following: 24
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‘‘(5) A summary of the number of change of 1
station, unit transfer, and change of work location 2
requests submitted to the Secretary of Commerce, 3
acting through the Under Secretary for Oceans and 4
Atmosphere, under subsection (a) of section 3544, 5
including the number of such requests the Secretary 6
denied under that subsection. 7
‘‘(6) A summary of the number of cases re-8
ported to the Commandant of the Coast Guard 9
under section 3550. 10
‘‘(7) The number of alleged sexual harassment 11
and sexual assault cases involving fisheries observ-12
ers, protected species observers, and endangered spe-13
cies observers, including— 14
‘‘(A) a synopsis of each case and the sta-15
tus of each such case; 16
‘‘(B) the disposition of any investigation; 17
and 18
‘‘(C) a description of the fishery manage-19
ment region and fishery or the geographic re-20
gion and type of permitted operation in which 21
the incident of sexual harassment or sexual as-22
sault is alleged to have occurred, as appro-23
priate.’’; and 24
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(4) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘assault’’ and 1
inserting ‘‘harassment or sexual assault case’’. 2
SEC. 5. INVESTIGATION AND CRIMINAL REFERRAL RE-3
QUIREMENTS. 4
(a) T
ECHNICALAMENDMENT.—Sections 3548 and 5
3549 (33 U.S.C. 894e and 894f) are redesignated as sec-6
tions 3551 and 3552, respectively. 7
(b) C
RIMINALREFERRAL.—Section 3547 (33 U.S.C. 8
894d–2) is amended— 9
(1) by striking ‘‘pursuant to’’ and inserting ‘‘at 10
the onset or during the course of’’; and 11
(2) by inserting ‘‘and, with respect to a licensed 12
mariner, the Commandant of the Coast Guard’’ 13
after ‘‘United States Attorney’’. 14
(c) I
NGENERAL.—Subtitle C of title XXXV (33 15
U.S.C. 894 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 16
3547 (33 U.S.C. 894d–2) the following: 17
‘‘SEC. 3548. EXCEPTIONS REGARDING ANONYMITY OF VIC-18
TIMS IN CERTAIN CASES. 19
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—In any case in which an em-20
ployee of the Administration, member of the commissioned 21
officer corps of the Administration, or covered personnel 22
elects restricted or unrestricted reporting under section 23
3541(b)(3)(B) or 3542(b)(5)(B), disclosure to the fol-24
lowing persons or organizations of the personally identi-25
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fying information of such individual is authorized for the 1
following reasons: 2
‘‘(1) To Administration staff or law enforce-3
ment personnel, if authorized by the victim in writ-4
ing. 5
‘‘(2) To Administration staff or law enforce-6
ment personnel to prevent or lessen a serious or im-7
minent threat to the health or safety of the victim 8
or another person. 9
‘‘(3) To a victim advocate or healthcare pro-10
vider, if required for the provision of victim services. 11
‘‘(4) To a State or Federal court, if pursuant 12
to a court order or if disclosure is required by Fed-13
eral or State statute. 14
‘‘(b) N
OTICE OFDISCLOSURE; PRIVACYPROTEC-15
TION.—If information described in subsection (a) is dis-16
closed under that subsection, the Secretary shall— 17
‘‘(1) make reasonable attempts to provide no-18
tice to the individual the information of whom is so 19
disclosed; and 20
‘‘(2) take such action as is necessary to protect 21
the privacy and safety of the individual. 22
‘‘SEC. 3549. RESTRICTED REPORTING UPDATE. 23
‘‘Not later than 3 years after the date of the enact-24
ment of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-25
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tration Sexual Harassment and Assault Prevention Im-1
provements Act of 2025, the Secretary of Commerce, act-2
ing through the Under Secretary for Oceans and Atmos-3
phere, shall update the policies developed under sections 4
3541 and 3542 with respect to the mechanism established 5
under subsections (b)(3)(B) and (b)(5)(B) of those sec-6
tions, respectively, such that each such mechanism pro-7
vides for a restricted reporting system that allows an em-8
ployee of the Administration, member of the commissioned 9
officer corps of the Administration, or covered personnel 10
who alleges to have been sexually harassed or sexually as-11
saulted to confidentially disclose the details of such sexual 12
harassment or sexual assault to specified individuals and 13
receive the services outlined in this subtitle— 14
‘‘(1) without the dissemination of the personally 15
identifying information of such individual, except as 16
necessary for the provision of such services and as 17
provided by section 3548(a); and 18
‘‘(2) without automatically triggering an inves-19
tigative process. 20
‘‘SEC. 3550. MARINER REPORTING. 21
‘‘(a) M
ANDATORYREPORTING BYRESPONSIBLEEN-22
TITY OF AVESSEL.— 23
‘‘(1) U
NRESTRICTED REPORTS .—The respon-24
sible entity of a vessel shall report to the Com-25
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mandant of the Coast Guard any incident of sexual 1
harassment or sexual assault in violation of employer 2
policy or law, of which the responsible entity of a 3
vessel is made aware, involving— 4
‘‘(A) an employee or contractor of the Ad-5
ministration who is required to hold a valid 6
merchant mariner credential as a condition of 7
employment; or 8
‘‘(B) a crewmember of a vessel that, at the 9
time of such incident, was operating under a 10
contract with the Administration. 11
‘‘(2) R
ESTRICTED REPORTS .—Paragraph (1) 12
does not apply with respect to an incident of sexual 13
harassment or sexual assault reported on a re-14
stricted basis pursuant to the mechanisms estab-15
lished for such reporting under sections 16
3541(b)(3)(B) and 3542(b)(5)(B), respectively. 17
‘‘(b) R
EPORTINGPROCEDURES.— 18
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.— 19
‘‘(A) T
IMING OF REPORTING.—The respon-20
sible entity of a vessel shall make a report re-21
quired under subsection (a)(1) as soon as the 22
responsible entity of a vessel is made aware of 23
the incident of sexual harassment or sexual as-24
sault that is the subject of the report. 25
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‘‘(B) MODE OF REPORTING .—The respon-1
sible entity of a vessel shall make a report re-2
quired under subsection (a)(1) to a single entity 3
in the Coast Guard designated by the Com-4
mandant of the Coast Guard to receive such re-5
ports by the fastest telecommunication channel 6
available to the responsible entity of a vessel. 7
‘‘(2) C
ONTENTS OF REPORT .—Each report 8
made under this section shall include, to the best of 9
the knowledge of the responsible entity of a vessel— 10
‘‘(A) the name, Coast Guard merchant 11
mariner credential reference number, if applica-12
ble, official position or role in relation to the 13
vessel, and contact information of each indi-14
vidual involved in the incident of sexual harass-15
ment or sexual assault that is the subject of the 16
report; 17
‘‘(B) the name and official number of the 18
vessel; 19
‘‘(C) the time and date of the incident of 20
sexual harassment or sexual assault; 21
‘‘(D) the geographic position or location of 22
the vessel when the incident of sexual harass-23
ment or sexual assault occurred; and 24
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‘‘(E) a brief description of the incident of 1
alleged sexual harassment or sexual assault 2
being reported. 3
‘‘(c) N
OTIFICATION BYSECRETARY.— 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary of Com-5
merce, acting through the Under Secretary for 6
Oceans and Atmosphere, shall notify the Director of 7
the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations of 8
each report of an incident of sexual harassment or 9
sexual assault received by the Secretary. 10
‘‘(2) N
OTIFICATION CONTENTS.—Each notifica-11
tion under paragraph (1) shall include, to the best 12
of the knowledge of the Secretary of Commerce, act-13
ing through the Under Secretary for Oceans and At-14
mosphere— 15
‘‘(A) with respect to an unrestricted report 16
submitted pursuant to section 3541(b)(3)(B) or 17
3542(b)(5)(B), the information required under 18
subsection (b)(2) of this section; and 19
‘‘(B) with respect to a restricted report 20
submitted pursuant to section 3541(b)(3)(B) or 21
3542(b)(5)(B), the information required under 22
subsection (b)(2) of this section that does not 23
include the personally identifying information of 24
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the individual that submitted the restricted re-1
port.’’. 2
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 3
Section 3552, as redesignated by section 5(a) of this 4
Act, is amended to read as follows: 5
‘‘SEC. 3552. DEFINITIONS. 6
‘‘In this subtitle: 7
‘‘(1) A
DMINISTRATION.—The term ‘Administra-8
tion’ means the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 9
Administration. 10
‘‘(2) C
OVERED PERSONNEL .— 11
‘‘(A) I
N GENERAL.—The term ‘covered 12
personnel’ means an individual who works with 13
or conducts business on behalf of the Adminis-14
tration. 15
‘‘(B) I
NCLUSION.—The term ‘covered per-16
sonnel’ includes— 17
‘‘(i) observers, at-sea monitors, and 18
catch monitors required by the National 19
Marine Fisheries Service to operate on or 20
in commercial fishing vessels, other pri-21
vately owned vessels, barges, or platforms, 22
and shoreside processing facilities for— 23
‘‘(I) commercial fisheries obser-24
vation required by the Magnuson-Ste-25
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vens Fishery Conservation and Man-1
agement Act (13 U.S.C. 1801 et 2
seq.); 3
‘‘(II) protected species or endan-4
gered species observation required by 5
the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 6
1972 (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) or the 7
Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 8
U.S.C. 1351 et seq.); or 9
‘‘(III) platform removal observa-10
tion; and 11
‘‘(ii) voting members and executive 12
and administrative staff of each Regional 13
Fishery Management Council established 14
by section 302 of the Magnuson-Stevens 15
Fishery Conservation and Management Act 16
(16 U.S.C. 1852). 17
‘‘(3) R
ESPONSIBLE ENTITY OF A VESSEL .—The 18
term ‘responsible entity of a vessel’ means the Direc-19
tor of the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, 20
with respect to each vessel owned or operated by the 21
Administration. 22
‘‘(4) S
EXUAL ASSAULT.—The term ‘sexual as-23
sault’ has the meaning given the term in section 24
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40002(a) of the Violence Against Women Act of 1
1994 (42 U.S.C. 13925 (a)).’’. 2
SEC. 7. CONFORMING AND CLERICAL AMENDMENTS. 3
(a) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.—Subtitle C of title 4
XXXV (33 U.S.C. 894 et seq.) is amended— 5
(1) by striking ‘‘individuals who work with or 6
conduct business on behalf of the Administration’’ 7
each place it appears and inserting ‘‘covered per-8
sonnel’’; and 9
(2) by striking ‘‘National Oceanic and Atmos-10
pheric’’ each place it appears, except— 11
(A) when it appears as ‘‘National Oceanic 12
and Atmospheric Administration Sexual Har-13
assment and Assault Prevention Improvements 14
Act of 2025’’; 15
(B) in section 3551, in the section head-16
ing; and 17
(C) in section 3552(1). 18
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—Each of the tables of 19
contents in section 2(b) and at the beginning of title 20
XXXV are amended by striking the items relating to sec-21
tions 3548 and 3549 and inserting the following: 22
‘‘Sec. 3548. Exceptions regarding anonymity of victims in certain cases.
‘‘Sec. 3549. Restricted reporting update.
‘‘Sec. 3550. Mariner referral.
‘‘Sec. 3551. Annual report on sexual harassment, sexual assault, and equal em-
ployment in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Adminis-
tration.
‘‘Sec. 3552. Definitions.’’.
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SEC. 8. PROHIBITED ACTS. 1
Section 307(1)(L) of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 2
Conservation and Management Act (16 U.S.C. 3
1857(1)(L)) is amended— 4
(1) by striking ‘‘forcibly’’; and 5
(2) by striking ‘‘on a vessel’’. 6
SEC. 9. PROHIBITION ON SERVICE IN COMMISSIONED OFFI-7
CER CORPS OF NATIONAL OCEANIC AND AT-8
MOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION BY INDIVID-9
UALS CONVICTED OF CERTAIN SEXUAL OF-10
FENSES. 11
Section 261(a) of the National Oceanic and Atmos-12
pheric Administration Commissioned Officer Corps Act of 13
2002 (33 U.S.C. 3071(a)) is amended— 14
(1) by redesignating paragraph (26) as para-15
graph (27); and 16
(2) by inserting after paragraph (25) the fol-17
lowing: 18
‘‘(26) Section 657, relating to prohibition on 19
service by individuals convicted of certain sexual of-20
fenses.’’. 21
Æ
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