By Natalie DeCoste

One of the five new antitrust bills introduced by the U.S. House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law has gained the support of 52 attorneys general.

Last week five new bipartisan antitrust bills were introduced in the House, all with the goal of making it easier to take on Big Tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google. The bills are the next step in the investigation into anticompetitive behavior on the part of these Big Tech companies, an investigation that has been going on for over a year.

Now, 52 attorneys general have sent a letter to congressional antitrust leaders urging them to support Rep. Ken Buck’s (R-CO) antitrust bill. Rep. Buck’s bill is the “the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act of 2021; H.R. 3460.” The bill is matched by one submitted by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and co-sponsored by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) back in May.

The attorneys general’s letter of support was led by Attorneys General Phil Weiser of Colorado, William Tong of Connecticut, Jeff Landry of Louisiana, and Ken Paxton of Texas. The letter was sent to Sen. Klobuchar and Sen. Lee, the leaders of the Senate Antitrust Committee and their house counterparts Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Buck himself.

“State attorneys general around the country are actively pursuing significant antitrust enforcement actions on behalf of consumers in their respective states. Although these law enforcement actions are brought in the public interest, they may be subject to transfer to a multidistrict litigation at the behest of defendants, where the cases are typically postponed and may be joined with numerous other lawsuits brought by private plaintiffs… State antitrust enforcement actions should be extended the same protections from transfer as those brought on behalf of the United States,” read part of the letter.

The attorneys general are showing their support for the bill in hopes that, should it pass, the states’ actions in antitrust lawsuits would be allowed to remain in their preferred venue. AGs want the ability to pursue relief without having to worry that their lawsuits will be transferred away from them by the defendants. Moving the lawsuit into a defendant preferred venue results in serious delays to antitrust enforcement and can diminish the positive impact on the consumers who are in the state that originates the lawsuit.

“States play a critical role in enforcing federal antitrust laws and should have the same benefit that is already afforded to federal antitrust enforcers – to select and remain in their preferred venue. Through this legislation, many of the inefficiencies and obstacles the states face in enforcing the federal antitrust laws will be eliminated, resulting in quicker resolution for the citizens of those states,” Buck said in a press release when the bill was first introduced.

Buck’s bill is just two pages and seeks to add the phrase “or a state” to one subsection of Section 1407 of title 28 of the United States Code. It also seeks to strike subsection (h), which allows for the consolidation and transfer of multidistrict litigation with or without the parties’ consent.