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ARTICLE · 26 OCTOBER 2026

California Now Has Its Own Monopoly Law

Sterlington PLLC
Sterlington PLLC
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California's new COMPETE Act fundamentally transforms state antitrust enforcement by allowing prosecutors to target single dominant firms for monopolistic conduct. With $14.3 million in new funding...

United StatesAntitrust/Competition Law
Kevin Collins
Kevin Collins
Adam Smith
Adam Smith
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On September 30, 2026, Governor Newsom signed AB 1776, the COMPETE Act. It is one of the biggest changes to California antitrust law in decades, and it takes effect January 1, 2027.

For more than a century, the Cartwright Act reached agreements among two or more businesses but generally not a single company acting alone. A case against one dominant firm had to be brought under federal law. That gap is now closed.

What changed

The law makes it unlawful to monopolize or monopsonize a market, attempt to do so, or maintain a monopoly or monopsony through anticompetitive conduct. California prosecutors can now sue a single company under state law for using its market position to keep competitors out.

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