“To prohibit the manipulation of rent prices in the United States, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section defines terms used in the Act, including (1) "Commission" as the Federal Trade Commission; (2) "coordinating function" as collecting rental prices, supply levels, or lease data from two or more rental property owners, analyzing or processing it (including via algorithms), and recommending rental prices, lease terms, or occupancy levels to two or more owners; (3) "coordinator" as any person performing a coordinating function, including a rental property owner for their own benefit; (4) "person" as defined in subsection (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12(a)); (5) "residential dwelling unit" as any house, apartment, accessory unit, manufactured home, manufactured housing community lot, or other residence, excluding inpatient medical care, licensed long-term care, and detention or correctional facilities; (6) "rental property owner" as any individual, corporation, partnership, association, joint-stock company, trust, or unincorporated organization that owns real property and leases or rents it; and (7) "State" as any state, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any territory or possession of the United States.
This section prohibits, in or affecting commerce, (1) rental property owners or their agents or subcontractors from knowingly subscribing to, contracting with, or exchanging anything of value for the services of a coordinator; and (2) any person from performing a coordinating function. Both actions are deemed an unlawful method of competition under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) and a per se violation of section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1), which prohibits contracts, combinations, or conspiracies in restraint of trade.
This section declares violations of the Act to be unfair methods of competition under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) and establishes enforcement mechanisms, including (1) authorizing the Federal Trade Commission to commence civil actions for civil penalties and other relief against any person, including non-profit organizations; (2) directing the Attorney General to enforce the Act using the jurisdiction, powers, and duties of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.), Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.), and Antitrust Civil Process Act (15 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.); (3) authorizing state attorneys general to enforce the Act using the jurisdiction, powers, and duties of the Sherman Act and Clayton Act; (4) permitting any aggrieved person to bring a civil action for treble damages, litigation costs, reasonable attorney fees, and simple interest on actual damages; and (5) invalidating, at the plaintiff's election, pre-dispute arbitration agreements or joint action waivers relating to Act violations.
This section establishes a pleading standard for civil actions alleging violations of Sherman Act sections 1 or 3(a) (i.e., prohibiting contracts, combinations, or conspiracies in restraint of trade or commerce), including actions by the United States, state attorneys general, or the Federal Trade Commission. The standard provides that a complaint need not allege facts tending to exclude the possibility of independent action and shall not be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the claimant can prove no set of facts entitling it to relief.
This section preserves the operation of federal antitrust laws, specifying that unlawful conduct under the Act supplements rather than supplants antitrust prohibitions. The section also limits preemption of state laws to the minimum extent necessary for inconsistencies with the Act (with state laws providing greater protection deemed not inconsistent).
This section provides a severability clause stating that if any provision of the Act, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held unconstitutional, the remaining provisions of the Act, and their application to any person or circumstance, remain unaffected.