“A bill to prohibit the manipulation of rent prices in the United States, and for other purposes.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes definitions for terms used in the Act, including (1) Commission (i.e., Federal Trade Commission); (2) coordinating function (i.e., collecting rental pricing, supply, or lease data from two or more rental property owners; analyzing or processing that data, including via algorithms; and recommending rental prices, lease terms, or occupancy levels to two or more owners); (3) coordinator (i.e., any person performing a coordinating function, including a rental property owner for its own benefit); (4) person (i.e., as defined in 15 U.S.C. 12(a)); (5) residential dwelling unit (i.e., any house, apartment, or similar unit used as a residence, excluding inpatient medical, long-term care, or detention facilities); (6) rental property owner (i.e., any entity owning and leasing real property); and (7) State (i.e., any state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, or U.S. territory or possession).
This section makes unlawful, in or affecting commerce, (1) a rental property owner’s—or agent’s or subcontractor’s—knowing subscription to, contract with, or exchange of anything of value for a coordinator’s services; and (2) any person’s performance of a coordinating function. Such conduct is deemed an unlawful method of competition in violation of section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act and a per se violation of section 1 of the Sherman Act.
This section declares violations of the Act to constitute unfair methods of competition under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45). It authorizes (1) the Federal Trade Commission to commence civil actions for civil penalties and other relief and to enforce the Act against nonprofit organizations; (2) the Attorney General to enforce the Act as under 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.); and (3) state attorneys general to enforce the Act as under the Sherman and Clayton Acts. The section further authorizes private civil actions by aggrieved persons for treble damages, litigation costs including reasonable attorney fees, and simple interest on actual damages, and permits plaintiffs to elect invalidation of pre-dispute arbitration agreements or joint action waivers.
This section establishes pleading standards 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. Complaints 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 them to relief.
This section provides that (1) nothing in the Act impairs or supersedes antitrust laws, and its unlawful conduct is in addition to (not instead of) conduct prohibited by antitrust laws; and (2) nothing in the Act preempts, annuls, alters, or affects state laws except to the extent of inconsistency, with state laws affording 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 applications remain unaffected.