Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025

This bill funds the Coast Guard for 2025 and 2026 and updates rules to improve safety on the water, support workers, and modernize ships. It sets aside more than $11 billion a year for operations, plus billions more for new equipment and retired pay. It creates bonuses to recruit, move, and keep civilian firefighters in remote Coast Guard locations, with yearly reports for five years on how the program is working. It also brings back an annual course that teaches Coast Guard leaders how Congress works, using many outside experts.

The bill makes it easier for mariners to build careers. It updates mariner credentials, shortens the time at sea needed for several “able seafarer” credentials, and makes renewals start the day after the old one ends so there’s no gap. It improves passenger safety on cruise ships by recording each crew entry into passenger rooms and keeping supplies that help prevent sexually transmitted diseases. It boosts readiness for oil spills and ship fires, and requires rules to identify and track abandoned vessels. It also lets NOAA keep the proceeds from selling old research ships for two years to buy or fix vessels, and sets extra approval for larger ship purchases. On the Hudson River, it limits new anchoring spots on a specific stretch. Finally, it grows the Coast Guard Junior ROTC to at least 20 schools by December 31, 2026.

Key points

• Who is affected: Coast Guard members and civilian firefighters; merchant mariners; cruise passengers; port communities; NOAA researchers and crews; high school students in Coast Guard Junior ROTC.
• What changes:
  • Major funding for operations and new equipment in 2025–2026.
  • Bonuses to recruit and keep civilian firefighters in remote areas.
  • Shorter sea-time and smoother renewals for mariner credentials.
  • Better cruise passenger protections in staterooms and health supplies.
  • Stronger spill and ship-fire readiness, plus rules to handle abandoned vessels.
  • Surprise cyber drills at ports to test security plans.
  • Limits on new anchoring spots on a section of the Hudson River.
  • NOAA can temporarily reinvest proceeds from selling research vessels and faces extra checks on large buys.
• When:
  • Funding covers fiscal years 2025 and 2026.
  • Firefighter program reports run annually for five years.
  • NOAA’s sale-proceeds flexibility lasts two years after enactment.
  • Coast Guard Junior ROTC expands by December 31, 2026.