Fuck this guy. Photo by Daniel Oberhaus via flickr
One of the foundational ideas supporting capitalism is the idea of competition symbolized by the ‘invisible hand’ of the market. The idea is based upon the belief that companies with good ideas, products and services will beat out companies with bad ideas products and services. But in reality, that only works at the extreme infancy of industry.
When an industry is new, there is competition, but once that initial period is over, what started as a competition easily becomes a monopoly, and that’s why legislation like the COMPETE ACT or Assembly Bill 1776 (AB 1776) is important.
The law is currently backed by the Black and Filipino chambers of commerce, as well as many small businesses forced to compete in unfair market conditions that benefit multinational corporations.
The bill has passed the California assembly, but has yet to pass the state Senate or be written into law.
The bill would do a lot of things, but here are the most significant.
Under the Cartwright Act, which is California’s current antitrust law, a monopoly is often defined by “two or more parties” combining into one company. You know like the Paramount-Warner Bros merger that essentially threatens the existence of Hollywood. Well, under the COMPETE act, single companies like Amazon would be subject to anti monopolization laws and lawsuits. It would hold dominant platforms legally accountable for abusive monopoly practices, unfair pricing constraints, and anti-competitive self-preferencing within the state.
Now you’re probably wondering why California or any state would need antitrust laws since there are already a number of federal laws that are supposed to combat monopolies, but the truth of the matter is that those laws don’t do enough and have gotten more narrow.
Supporters argue the COMPETE Act would give California the needed flexibility to protect California customers from the worst abuses of monopolies in the state. Namely price hikes, lower quality products and poorer customer service.
It would also allow more private and state lawsuits against dominant companies for wage suppression, competitor exclusion and limited customer choice.
You know how PG&E has been fucking over San Francisco since seemingly forever, the reason why people continue to use them is because they don’t have a choice since PG&E has an electricity monopoly in San Francisco. If you could choose a different provider, you likely would, but you can’t.
This law would make it easier for people to legally challenge companies who benefit from cornering the market.
However, not everyone loves the bill. Corporations clearly aren’t fans of the compete act, and critics argue that the bill won’t allow for more competition, but may raise prices by tying up large businesses in expensive litigation, and that the cost of this would then be passed onto the consumer.
Regardless of the critiques, it’s clear that the status quo in California isn’t working, as prices continue to rise for goods and services along with inflation tearing into the value of the dollar.
If you’re interested in supporting the COMPETE act, you can.
A rally in support of the COMPETE act will be happening at the West Capital Steps in Sacramento on August 11th, 2026. This march will take place just two days before the California Senate committee votes on it.
Here’s a video explaining way better than this article why the COMPETE act is something worth looking into.
