California Policymakers Take Steps to Revamp State Antitrust Law

California policymakers intend to bolster the state’s antitrust law as the Trump administration is likely to pull back on its predecessor’s approach to anticompetitive activity.

The latest step: An advisory panel on Thursday preliminarily approved proposed changes to the Cartwright Act, the state antitrust law passed more than 100 years ago. Their ideas include applying the law to an individual firm that engages in monopolistic behavior, lowering the current threshold that applies to conduct by two or more businesses.

The recommendations by the California Law Revision Commission, which lawmakers in 2022 ordered to study potential antitrust changes, will eventually ...