46 U.S.C. § 51319 — Sexual assault response coordinators and sexual assault victim advocates

(a) Sexual Assault Response Coordinators. The Academy must employ or contract at least one full-time coordinator who lives at or near the Academy. The Secretary may add more coordinators as needed. Each coordinator must be picked for their experience helping victims of these offenses and for legal protection that lets their communications stay privileged. The coordinator must, as far as the law allows, keep confidential the reports from any cadet who says they were a victim or witness. Within 90 days of enactment, the Maritime Administrator, working with the Office of Civil Rights, had to set up a way to verify coordinators finished proper training. That training must cover working with victims, the Academy's response policies and resources, and outside victim services at the national, state, and local level. Coordinators had to finish training within 270 days of enactment, or 180 days after starting the job. A coordinator's duties are to: (A) confidentially take a victim's report; (B) tell the victim their legal rights, reporting options, how to get services like medical care, forensic exams, legal help, and counseling, how the coordinator can help arrange those services and accommodations (like changing living arrangements), the victim's rights around protective orders, and privacy limits; (C) represent the victim's interests even if they conflict with the Academy's; (D) give the victim written materials on all this information; (E) work with Academy staff, with the victim's consent, to arrange accommodations; (F) keep the victim's identity and the incident private, unless the law requires disclosure, the victim asks for disclosure after being fully informed, or someone faces immediate danger; (G) help the victim report to the Academy or police, if asked; and (H) send the Maritime Administration's civil rights director a yearly report on how coordinator resources were used, including how many victims were helped. (b) Oversight. Each coordinator reports directly to the Superintendent, and also has a separate reporting line to the Maritime Administration's Executive Director on Maritime Administration or Department of Transportation matters, or if the coordinator believes Academy leadership is mishandling these issues. The Office of Civil Rights must support the coordinator on all these matters. A victim's request for an accommodation through the coordinator cannot by itself trigger an Academy investigation. The Academy cannot discipline, penalize, or retaliate against a coordinator, victim advocate, or companion for representing a victim's interests, even against the Academy's own interests. (c) Special Victims Advisor. The Secretary must name an attorney as Special Victims Advisor to give legal help to any cadet who is a victim of an alleged sex offense, whether the report is restricted or unrestricted. This attorney must know military, criminal, and civil law. Communications between the victim and this advisor get the same protection as confidential attorney-client communications. (d) Volunteer Sexual Assault Victim Advocates. The Secretary, through the Superintendent, must pick one or more permanent Academy employees to volunteer as victim advocates. Each advocate must be trained on sexual assault matters and the policy under section 51318, and serves voluntarily in addition to their regular job. Their main duties are: telling victims about their rights and resources, finding resources to keep victims safe, and connecting victims with a companion. At least one advocate or coordinator must act as a companion, helping the victim through investigation, medical, mental, emotional, and recovery processes; if the victim asks, a different advocate must be assigned as companion instead. The Secretary may partner with outside groups to provide more advocates or to carry out these companion duties. (e) Unfilled Vacancies. The Maritime Administrator may fill open coordinator or advocate positions without following the usual hiring rules in sections 3309 through 3319 of title 5.