---
title: "A California bill would let people and small businesses sue big companies over monopolies"
description: "A bill moving through the California Legislature would rewrite the state's century-old antitrust law to let individuals and small businesses sue large corporations for anti-competitive conduct. Backers call it a check on corporate power; critics, including some Democrats, warn it could unleash a wave of litigation."
category: "California"
category_url: https://herald.la/category/california
author: "Brandon Cole"
published: 2026-07-15T13:52:00.000Z
updated: 2026-07-15T13:52:00.000Z
canonical: https://herald.la/article/a-california-bill-would-let-people-and-small-businesses-sue-big-companies-over-m
tags: ["california", "antitrust", "legislature", "cartwright act", "big tech"]
---
# A California bill would let people and small businesses sue big companies over monopolies

A bill moving through the California Legislature would rewrite the state's century-old antitrust law to let individuals and small businesses sue large corporations for anti-competitive conduct. Backers call it a check on corporate power; critics, including some Democrats, warn it could unleash a wave of litigation.

California has had an antitrust law on the books since 1907, but for most of that time it has been a narrow tool, aimed mainly at agreements between competing companies. A bill now before the state Senate would broaden it dramatically, and, supporters and opponents agree, hand ordinary Californians a new weapon against the country's largest corporations.

## What the bill does

Assembly Bill 1776, dubbed the COMPETE Act, [would expand the state's Cartwright Act to reach conduct by a single dominant company](https://www.crowell.com/en/insights/client-alerts/california-assembly-passes-ab-1776-sending-major-antitrust-bill-to-the-senate), not just deals among rivals, and would let private parties, including individuals and small businesses, bring antitrust suits in California courts. Crucially, [the measure declares that federal antitrust precedent is only "instructive," not binding, on California judges](https://www.crowell.com/en/insights/client-alerts/california-assembly-passes-ab-1776-sending-major-antitrust-bill-to-the-senate), meaning some conduct that survives under federal law could still be challenged under state law.

The bill [cleared the state Assembly and moved to the Senate](https://prospect.org/2026/06/29/anti-monopoly-bill-hits-make-or-break-moment-in-california/), where it faces a decision deadline later this summer.

## The case for it

Supporters, a coalition that includes labor unions and consumer advocates, argue that federal antitrust enforcement has grown too weak to restrain concentrated corporate power, and that California, home to much of the tech industry, should set its own tougher standard. They contend that dominant firms use their market power to squeeze smaller competitors, raise prices and hold down wages, and that giving the "little guy" a right to sue would deter that behavior, [as CalMatters reported in laying out the debate](https://calmatters.org/newsletter/antitrust-lawsuit-legislation/).

## The case against

Opponents, chiefly business and technology groups, warn that opening the door to private antitrust suits would invite a flood of litigation and settlement-seeking claims, raising costs and discouraging investment in the state. Industry-backed analyses have projected steep economic harm, figures the bill's supporters dispute as scare tactics. Notably, some of the resistance comes from within the governing party: [a number of Democrats have signaled unease](https://calmatters.org/newsletter/antitrust-lawsuit-legislation/), with some preferring to keep antitrust enforcement in the hands of prosecutors and the state attorney general rather than private plaintiffs.

## Why it matters

The fight is more than a technical dispute over legal standards. If AB 1776 becomes law, California would carve out an antitrust regime distinct from, and in places tougher than, the federal one, with national implications given the size of the state's economy and the tech companies based here. That is precisely why the lobbying on both sides has been intense, and why the bill's fate in the Senate, and on the governor's desk, is being watched well beyond Sacramento. For now, the measure is one vote closer to reshaping how, and by whom, the biggest companies in America can be taken to court in California.

## Sources

- [Californians may get a new way to sue big companies. Some Democrats are nervous](https://calmatters.org/newsletter/antitrust-lawsuit-legislation/)
- [California Assembly passes AB 1776, sending major antitrust bill to the Senate](https://www.crowell.com/en/insights/client-alerts/california-assembly-passes-ab-1776-sending-major-antitrust-bill-to-the-senate)
- [Anti-monopoly bill hits make-or-break moment in California](https://prospect.org/2026/06/29/anti-monopoly-bill-hits-make-or-break-moment-in-california/)