Coast Guard Personnel Equipment Act

Summary#

This bill changes a part of U.S. law (title 10, section 4862) so the Coast Guard must follow the same rule as the military services when buying certain personnel equipment from American sources. The bill updates wording in several subsections. It replaces references to just the Department of Defense with wording that covers the Department of Defense or any branch of the Armed Forces. It also adjusts which Secretary is named for certain decisions: when the Coast Guard is not operating as a service in the Navy, some duties are assigned to the Secretary of Homeland Security as well as the Secretary of Defense. Other small wording changes replace phrases like "the Secretary of the military department concerned" with "the Secretary concerned."

What it means for you#

• If you work in Coast Guard procurement or supply, this bill would make the Coast Guard subject to the same requirement in 10 U.S.C. 4862 to buy certain personnel equipment from American sources.
• If you sell equipment to the Coast Guard, this bill would mean the Coast Guard must follow the American-source purchase rules in that section.
• If you are not directly involved with procurement, the bill clarifies which officials (Department of Defense or, for certain Coast Guard matters, the Department of Homeland Security) handle specific decisions in the statute.

Expenses#

No publicly available information.

Proponents' View#

The bill's stated change is to include the Coast Guard in the existing requirement to buy certain articles from American sources and to clarify which Secretaries carry out parts of the statute. The bill was introduced by Senators Lindsey Graham and Sheldon Whitehouse.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.