Press Release

Governor Newsom Signs The COMPETE Act, Modernizing California’s Century-Old Antitrust Law

09. 30. 2026

Landmark law gives the state new power to hold dominant corporations accountable for anticompetitive conduct that raises costs.

SACRAMENTO –  Today California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law the COMPETE Act (AB 1776), legislation authored by Assembly Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry that updates California’s antitrust laws for the first time in more than a century and gives the attorney general and district attorneys clear authority to sue a single dominant corporation for anticompetitive conduct. 

Across the American economy, a shrinking number of firms control each industry. An estimated 70-90% of the global grain trade, 89% of the baby food market, and 98% of the cell phone market are each controlled by just four companies. As that concentration deepens, the effects reach nearly every part of daily life. Consumers face fewer and more expensive choices, workers lose bargaining power, and the broader economy suffers from less innovation and productivity. Left unchecked, concentrated corporate power reshapes markets to serve the largest players at the expense of everyone else’s economic freedom and security. 

“For more than a hundred years, California has tried to protect competition with a law written in 1907, long before anyone imagined the tactics dominant corporations would use to entrench their power. The COMPETE Act finally modernizes that law. It makes clear that abusing monopoly power is illegal in California, and it gives our enforcers real tools to do something about it. This means small businesses can compete on a level playing field, workers can command fair wages, and families can start to see relief from the concentrated corporate power that has quietly driven up the cost of nearly everything. We applaud Governor Newsom for signing, and Assembly Majority leader Aguiar-Curry for her leadership,” said Teri Olle, Vice President of State Strategy at Economic Security Project. 

The COMPETE Act is the product of a years-long, expert-driven review by the California Law Revision Commission, the independent state body the Legislature tasked with examining whether California’s antitrust law still fits the modern economy. The Commission convened working groups of antitrust scholars and practitioners, held public meetings, and took public comment before issuing its recommendations to lawmakers. Its experts concluded that the single greatest gap in existing law was the absence of any prohibition on a dominant firm abusing its market power. The COMPETE Act codifies the Commission’s recommendations into legislation supported by our affiliate organization Economic Security California Action, and others. 

“When Amazon sold my products on their own platform without my consent as part of their “Buy For Me” program, existing California law left me with no way to fight back. By signing the COMPETE Act, Governor Newsom is ensuring the biggest corporations have to play by the same rules as the small businesses they compete with,”  said Angie Chua, owner of Bobo Design Studio in Palm Springs. 

California has long used its scale and influence to set standards the rest of the country follows. By modernizing its antitrust law, the state is reasserting a basic principle: markets work best when they are open and competitive, and when no single corporation is powerful enough to write the rules in its own favor. The COMPETE Act gives California the means to defend that principle on behalf of the business, workers, and families who depend on a fair economy.