Gov. signed Assembly Bill 1776, the COMPETE Act, into law on Sept. 30, 2026, the attorney general’s office said.
“The COMPETE Act will arm my office with a new, important tool to go after anticompetitive conduct by a single firm and protect workers, consumers, and small businesses,” Attorney General said.
For more than a century the Cartwright Act barred only conduct involving two or more companies, and the California Law Revision Commission concluded a single dominant company can undermine competition on its own; the COMPETE Act allows monopolization and monopsonization claims to be brought under the Cartwright Act in state court, the attorney general’s office said.
The office said the change will let state prosecutors pursue those claims under decades of Cartwright Act case law instead of relying solely on federal Sherman Act precedent; that could expand the venues and tools available to California enforcers.
The attorney general’s office placed the signing in the context of the department’s recent antitrust work; the office cited a historic jury verdict against Live Nation/Ticketmaster in April after more than two years of litigation, the $700 million Google Play Store settlement announced in 2025, and a $50 million gas‑trading settlement announced in July 2024, and said it is litigating against Nexstar/Tegna, Amazon and RealPage.
The department has also launched an Antitrust Complaint Form where Californians can report conduct they believe violates the antitrust laws, the office said.
“California should be a place where our small businesses, workers, and entrepreneurs get a fair shot, and where consumers aren’t held hostage by companies that have crushed their competition and can now raise prices unchecked,” Assembly Majority Leader said.
State
Gavin Newsom
Governor · Democrat
Named 2 times in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
State
Rob Bonta
Attorney General · Democrat
Named once in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
State
Cecilia M. Aguiar-Curry
State Assembly Member · Democrat
Named once in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
Sources & methodology
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