- Gibson Martucci
- 916-319-3104
- gibson.martucci@asm.ca.gov
(SACRAMENTO, CA) — Today, the California State Assembly passed AB 325, a landmark bill authored by Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (D-Winters), to modernize California’s antitrust laws and confront the growing threat of digital price fixing algorithms that artificially inflate prices for everyday goods and services. The bill advances to the State Senate.
"California shouldn’t tolerate practices that exploit working families that already can’t afford the high costs of living. This bill will help families afford to live, including keep things accessible when it comes to rent and food,” said Majority Leader Cecilia Aguiar-Curry. “AB 325 brings our laws into the 21st century where digital collusion is just as damaging as handshake deals behind closed doors—it’s about targeting collusion, not competition.”
AB 325 closes legal loopholes that have allowed companies to use pricing algorithms to coordinate prices in secret, harming consumers and small businesses. From rental housing to grocery staples like chicken and frozen potatoes, major corporations have exploited algorithmic tools to collude on pricing— undermining competition and driving up costs. This bill updates California’s Cartwright Act to explicitly prohibit the use of digital tools for illegal price coordination and ensures that coercive tactics that strip independent businesses of pricing control are addressed. AB 325 also includes safe harbors to protect small businesses acting in good faith and end users who unknowingly used price-fixing tools.
AB 325 is co-sponsored by TechEquity Collaborative, Economic Security Project, and the American Economic Liberties Project, and supported by a broad coalition of consumer advocates, labor unions, antipoverty organizations, and small business groups across California. Co-sponsors have this to say:
CEO and Founder of TechEquity Catherine Bracy says, “Corporations like grocery stores and Wall Street landlords are using AI to squeeze as much money as possible out of everyday people. We need to take action to catch up to the speed and scale at which tech is enabling unfair pricing practices that inflate costs and hurt working families.”
Director of Economic Security California Action, Teri Olle affirmed, "When big businesses misuse AI to fix prices and pad their profits, costs skyrocket. AB 325 would prohibit algorithmic price fixing to make life more affordable and create a competitive marketplace that works better for everyone.”
Senior Legal Counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project, Lee Hepner says, “Price fixing algorithms have enabled widespread, illegal cartels across our economy and have flourished under a loophole in existing law. Whether made in person or in a piece of code, illegal agreements not to compete lead to increased prices and restricted supply of essential goods.”
Aguiar-Curry’s bill gains urgency amid a wave of federal and state actions targeting alleged price-fixing in key industries like housing, food processing, and hospitality. In August 2024, California Attorney General Rob Bonta joined the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in suing a major property management software firm and several landlords, claiming their pricing algorithms inflated rents and limited housing access during the state’s housing crisis. Similar antitrust lawsuits have been filed by the DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission against a data company in the meat industry and in cases involving algorithmic price-fixing in hotels.
“AB 325 shows California is working to protect our people and ensure a competitive marketplace for all so AI isn’t misused to jack-up prices,” concludes Aguiar-Curry. “We’re in an affordability crises. People literally can’t afford the price of corporate greed.”