Cartwright Act: violations.

Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry's antitrust legislation targets algorithmic price coordination by prohibiting businesses from using or distributing common pricing algorithms that restrain trade. The measure establishes two distinct violations: using pricing algorithms as part of anticompetitive agreements and coercing others to adopt algorithm-recommended prices or terms for similar products and services in California.

The bill defines common pricing algorithms as any methodology using competitor data to recommend, align, or influence prices and commercial terms like service levels, availability, and output quantities. These provisions supplement existing antitrust law while specifically addressing modern technological tools that could enable coordinated pricing. The legislation also modifies pleading requirements for Cartwright Act violations, allowing complaints to proceed by demonstrating plausible evidence of anticompetitive agreements rather than having to exclude the possibility of independent action.

By expanding the scope of prohibited activities under California's antitrust framework, the measure creates new criminal violations when businesses deploy pricing algorithms in ways that restrain trade. While the bill maintains current enforcement mechanisms, it excludes end consumers from liability and explicitly preserves other antitrust protections. Local agencies may incur enforcement costs, though the measure specifies these expenses do not require state reimbursement under constitutional provisions regarding criminal law changes.