[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 678 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 678

           To increase the penalties for economic espionage.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 30, 2011

 Mr. Kohl (for himself, Mr. Whitehouse, and Mr. Coons) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
           To increase the penalties for economic espionage.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Economic Espionage Penalty 
Enhancement Act''.

SEC. 2. AMENDMENT TO TITLE 18.

    Section 1831(a) of title 18, United States Code, is amended by 
striking ``15 years'' and inserting ``20 years''.

SEC. 3. DIRECTIVE TO SENTENCING COMMISSION.

    Pursuant to its authority under section 994(p) of title 28, United 
States Code, the United States Sentencing Commission shall--
            (1) review its guidelines and policy relating to a two-
        level enhancement for economic espionage; and
            (2) as a part of such review consider amending such 
        guidelines to--
                    (A) apply the two-level enhancement to the simple 
                misappropriation of a trade secret;
                    (B) apply an additional two-level enhancement if 
                the defendant transmits or attempts to transmit the 
                stolen trade secret outside of the United States and an 
                additional three-level enhancement if the defendant 
                instead commits economic espionage (i.e., he/she knew 
                or intended that the offense would benefit a foreign 
                government, foreign instrumentality, or foreign agent); 
                and
                    (C) provide when a defendant transmits trade 
                secrets outside of the United States or commits 
                economic espionage, that the defendant should face a 
                minimum offense level.
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