Author: Paul Moore
On September 30, 2026, Governor Gavin Newsom signed AB 1776, the Competition and Opportunity in Markets for a Prosperous, Equitable and Transparent Economy (COMPETE) Act. Effective January 1, 2027, the law extends California’s Cartwright Act to single-firm monopolization and monopsonization for the first time. New Business and Professions Code section 16731 makes it unlawful to monopolize or monopsonize, attempt to monopolize or monopsonize, maintain a monopoly or monopsony, or combine or conspire with another person to monopolize or monopsonize any part of trade or commerce.
The bill met significant resistance in the Legislature, and the final Act is substantially narrower than the version first proposed. Most significantly, the Legislature: