Stop Stealing our Chips Act
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Stop Stealing our Chips Act adds a whistleblower incentive and protection section to the Export Control Reform Act of 2018. It is aimed at violations involving the diversion of leading-edge artificial-intelligence chips and other export-controlled items to countries that are adversaries of the United States.
The bill defines who counts as a whistleblower, what qualifies as original information, when an award can be paid, and which people are excluded. It lets the Secretary of Commerce pay awards from collected monetary sanctions, protects whistleblowers from retaliation, creates a private right of action for retaliation claims, and requires annual reporting on the number of tips, awards, and enforcement outcomes.
Who Benefits and How
Whistleblowers who provide original information about export-control violations benefit because they can receive a monetary award tied to collected sanctions and gain statutory protection against retaliation. The Bureau of Industry and Security and other Commerce export-control enforcement officials benefit from better tips about chip diversion and other violations.
U.S. national-security agencies and companies that comply with export-control rules benefit if the program improves detection of unlawful diversion to adversary countries. Law-abiding semiconductor exporters benefit from stronger enforcement against competitors or intermediaries that evade export controls.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Department of Commerce and the Secretary of Commerce must administer award decisions, confidentiality rules, retaliation protections, and annual reporting. Exporters, intermediaries, and other firms involved in unlawful chip diversion face higher enforcement risk if employees or counterparties report original information.
Employers who retaliate against whistleblowers face civil exposure because the bill allows claims for reinstatement, double back pay, litigation costs, expert witness fees, and attorney fees. Whistleblowers who helped plan or commit the violation, federal employees acting within official duties, and sanctioned persons are excluded from awards.
Key Provisions
- Establishes a new Export Control Reform Act whistleblower incentive program for original information about export-control violations.
- Allows awards to eligible whistleblowers from collected monetary sanctions when their information substantially contributes to an enforcement action.
- Protects whistleblower identity and bars retaliation by employers or other covered actors.
- Creates a retaliation cause of action with reinstatement, double back pay, and litigation-cost remedies.
- Excludes federal employees acting within their duties, sanctioned persons, and people who planned or initiated the violation from receiving awards.
- Requires annual Commerce reporting to Congress on tips, awards, sanctions collected, and enforcement outcomes.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Creates export-control whistleblower incentives and retaliation protections to improve enforcement against diversion of advanced AI chips and other controlled items to adversary countries.
Key Policy Areas
Trade, National Security, Technology
Primary Purpose
Creates export-control whistleblower incentives and retaliation protections to improve enforcement against diversion of advanced AI chips and other controlled items to adversary countries.
Policy Domains
Whole bill
Identified Gains
- Export-control whistleblowers
- Bureau of Industry and Security
- U.S. national-security agencies
- Law-abiding semiconductor exporters
Identified Costs
- Department of Commerce
- Secretary of Commerce
- Export-control violators
- Employers that retaliate against whistleblowers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Passed SenateHeld at the desk.
Message on Senate action sent to the House.
Received in the House.
Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs discharged by …
Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text of …
Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate with an amendment by …
Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent. (consideration: CR S2424-2426)
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, …
Mr. Rounds (for himself and Mr. Warner) introduced the following …
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Department of Commerce
Department of Commerce faces effects in multiple directions
U.S. national-security agencies
U.S. national-security agencies faces effects in multiple directions
Critical infrastructure operators
Critical infrastructure operators faces effects in multiple directions
Cross-border semiconductor traders, Foreign chip diversion intermediaries
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "secretary"
- → Secretary or agency head identified in the operative section
- "administrator"
- → Administrator identified in the operative section
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
Voluntarily provided independent knowledge or analysis that is not already known to the Secretary and is not solely derived from public proceedings or reports unless the whistleblower is the source.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology