The Coast Guard Auxiliary is a nonmilitary organization administered by the Commandant under the direction of the Secretary. For command, control, and administrative purposes, the Auxiliary shall include such organizational elements and units as are approved by the Commandant, including but not limited to, a national board and staff (to be known as the “Auxiliary headquarters unit”), districts, regions, divisions, flotillas, and other organizational elements and units. The Auxiliary organization and its officers shall have such rights, privileges, powers, and duties as may be granted to them by the Commandant, consistent with this title and other applicable provisions of law. The Commandant may delegate to officers of the Auxiliary the authority vested in the Commandant by this section, in the manner and to the extent the Commandant considers necessary or appropriate for the functioning, organization, and internal administration of the Auxiliary.

Each organizational element or unit of the Coast Guard Auxiliary organization (but excluding any corporation formed by an organizational element or unit of the Auxiliary under subsection (c) of this section), shall, except when acting outside the scope of section 3902, at all times be deemed to be an instrumentality of the United States, for purposes of the following:

(1) Chapter 171 of title 28 (popularly known as the Federal Tort Claims Act).

(2) Section 2733 of title 10 (popularly known as the Military Claims Act).

(3) Section 30101 of title 46 (popularly known as the Admiralty Extension Act).

(4) Chapter 309 of title 46 (known as the Suits in Admiralty Act).

(5) Chapter 311 of title 46 (known as the Public Vessels Act).

(6) Other matters related to noncontractual civil liability.

The national board of the Auxiliary, and any Auxiliary district or region, may form a corporation under State law in accordance with policies established by the Commandant.

The Secretary may treat personal property of the auxiliary as property of the United States—

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), personal property of the auxiliary shall not be considered property of the United States.

The Secretary may treat personal property of the auxiliary as property of the United States—

(A) for the purposes of— (i) the statutes and matters referred to in paragraphs (1) through (6) of subsection (b); and (ii) section 901 of this title; and

(B) as otherwise provided in this chapter.

(3) The Secretary may reimburse the Auxiliary, and each organizational element and unit of the Auxiliary, for necessary expenses of operation, maintenance, and repair or replacement of personal property of the Auxiliary.

(4) In this subsection, the term “personal property of the Auxiliary” means motor boats, yachts, aircraft, radio stations, motorized vehicles, trailers, or other equipment that is under the administrative jurisdiction of the Coast Guard Auxiliary or an organizational element or unit of the Auxiliary and that is used solely for the purposes described in this subsection.

(Aug. 4, 1949, ch. 393, 63 Stat. 555, § 821; Pub. L. 104–324, title IV, § 401(a), Oct. 19, 1996, 110 Stat. 3922; Pub. L. 108–293, title II, § 226, Aug. 9, 2004, 118 Stat. 1041; Pub. L. 109–304, § 17(c), Oct. 6, 2006, 120 Stat. 1707; Pub. L. 114–120, title II, § 209(14), Feb. 8, 2016, 130 Stat. 41; renumbered § 3901 and amended Pub. L. 115–282, title I, §§ 119(b), 123(b)(2), Dec. 4, 2018, 132 Stat. 4236, 4240.)