New York Could Lead the Nation Into 21st Century Antitrust Enforcement 

By Grant Petrosyan (Constantine Cannon)

New York is on the verge of revamping state antitrust enforcement to tackle competition issues of the 21st Century.

On September 14, 2020, the Consumer Protection Committee of the New York State Senate held a virtual antitrust hearing regarding Senate Bill S8700, which is known as the “Twenty-First Century Anti-Trust Act.”  The proposed legislation, which, New York State Senator Michael Gianaris introduced in July 2020, would modernize existing state antitrust law and expand the State’s and private litigants’ ability to litigate against companies for anticompetitive conduct.  The bill, if passed, would place New York at the forefront of antitrust enforcement in the nation.

It is no secret that there has been a significant increase in consolidation in recent years across many industries, including wireless telecommunications, agriculture, and healthcare, to name just a few.  This consolidation is the result of decades of lax antitrust enforcement, which has led to historic levels of market concentration.  At the September 14 hearing, New York Attorney General Letitia James expressed her support for the proposed legislation stating, “it will give New York’s antitrust laws the scope and the flexibility needed for effective antitrust enforcement in this era of increasing economic concentration.”…

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