PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 255.
Congressional Research Service
Version 01 · Reported to Senate with amendment(s) · Dec 8, 2011
Economic Espionage Penalty Enhancement Act - Amends the federal criminal code to increase (from 15 to 20 years) the term of imprisonment for economic espionage (i.e., stealing or obtaining, duplicating or conveying, or buying or possessing trade secrets without authorization intending or knowing that the offense will benefit any foreign government, foreign instrumentality, or foreign agent).
Directs the United States Sentencing Commission to review and amend the federal sentencing guidelines and policy statements applicable to persons convicted of offenses relating to the transmission of a stolen trade secret outside of the United States or economic espionage to reflect the intent of Congress that penalties for such offenses: (1) reflect the seriousness of, and potential and actual harm caused by, such offenses; and (2) provide adequate deterrence.
Directs the Commission to: (1) consider the extent to which such guidelines and statements appropriately account for the simple misappropriation of a trade secret, including the sufficiency of the existing enhancement for such offenses to address the seriousness of this conduct; (2) consider additional enhancements to account for any transmission of a stolen trade secret outside of the United States and any such transmission that is committed for the benefit of a foreign government; (3) consider establishing a minimum offense level for offenses relating to such transmission; (4) ensure that the guidelines and statements reflect the serious nature of such offenses and the need to deter such conduct; (5) ensure reasonable consistency with other relevant directives, guidelines and statements, and federal statutes; and (6) ensure that the guidelines adequately meet the purposes of sentencing.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Directs the Commission to complete its review within 180 days and to issue a report explaining any decision not to adopt any of the specific recommendations.
People & committees
Sen. Kohl, Herb [D-WI] · D–WI
Legislative record
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Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 255.
Committee on the Judiciary. Reported by Senator Leahy with an amendment. Without written report.
Committee on the Judiciary. Reported by Senator Leahy with an amendment. Without written report.
Committee on the Judiciary. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably.
Committee on the Judiciary. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 112-922.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. (text of measure as introduced: CR S1985)
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S1985)
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Aug 10, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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