[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8622 Introduced in House (IH)]
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118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8622
To prohibit the use of algorithmic systems to artificially inflate the
price or reduce the supply of leased or rented residential dwelling
units in the United States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 5, 2024
Ms. Balint (for herself, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Mr. Gomez, Ms.
Jayapal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Nadler, Ms. Norton, Mrs. Watson
Coleman, and Ms. Omar) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the use of algorithmic systems to artificially inflate the
price or reduce the supply of leased or rented residential dwelling
units in the United States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing the Algorithmic
Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act of 2024''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Chair.--The term ``Chair'' means the Chair of the
Commission.
(2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Trade Commission.
(3) Consciously parallel pricing coordination.--The term
``consciously parallel pricing coordination'' means a tacit
agreement between 2 or more rental property owners to raise,
lower, change, maintain, or manipulate pricing for the purchase
or sale of reasonably interchangeable products or services.
(4) Coordinating function.--The term ``coordinating
function'' means--
(A) collecting historical or contemporaneous
prices, supply levels, or lease or rental contract
termination and renewal dates of residential dwelling
units from 2 or more rental property owners;
(B) analyzing or processing of the information
described in subparagraph (A) using a system, software,
or process that uses computation, including by using
that information to train an algorithm; and
(C) recommending rental prices, lease renewal
terms, or ideal occupancy levels to a rental property
owner.
(5) Coordinator.--The term ``coordinator'' means any person
that operates a software or data analytics service that
performs a coordinating function for any rental property owner,
including a rental property owner performing a coordinating
function for their own benefit.
(6) Person.--The term ``person'' has the meaning given the
term in subsection (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act
(15 U.S.C. 12).
(7) Pre-dispute arbitration agreement.--The term ``pre-
dispute arbitration agreement'' means an agreement between 2 or
more parties to arbitrate a dispute between the parties that is
made before any dispute has arisen.
(8) Pre-dispute joint action waiver.--The term ``pre-
dispute joint action waiver'' means an agreement between 2 or
more parties, which may be part of a pre-dispute arbitration
agreement, that--
(A) would prohibit or waive the right of a party to
participate in a joint, class, or collective action in
a judicial, arbitral, administrative, or other forum
relating to a dispute between parties; and
(B) is made before any dispute has arisen.
(9) Residential dwelling unit.--The term ``residential
dwelling unit''--
(A) means any house, apartment, accessory unit, or
other unit intended to be used as a primary residence;
and
(B) does not include inpatient medical care,
licensed long-term care, and detention or correctional
facilities.
(10) Rental property owner.--The term ``rental property
owner'' means any individual, corporation, partnership,
association, joint-stock companies, trusts, or unincorporated
organizations that owns real property and leases or rents such
property or any portion thereof in the form of 4 or more
residential dwelling units.
(11) State.--The term ``State'' means any State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession of the United
States.
SEC. 3. UNLAWFUL CONDUCT.
(a) In General.--
(1) Contract or conspiracy in restraint of trade.--It is
unlawful for a rental property owner, in or affecting commerce,
or any agent or subcontractor thereof, to subscribe to,
contract with, or otherwise exchange anything of value in
return for the services of a coordinator, and such action shall
be deemed to be a per se violation of the Sherman Act (15
U.S.C. 1 et seq.).
(2) Facilitation.--It is unlawful for a coordinator, in or
affecting commerce, to facilitate an agreement among rental
property owners to not compete with respect to residential
dwelling units, including by performing a coordinating
function.
(3) Anti-competitive merger.--It is unlawful for any
coordinator, in or affecting commerce, to acquire, directly or
indirectly, the whole or any part of the stock or other share
capital of another coordinator if the acquisition would create
an appreciable risk of materially lessening competition in
violation of section 7 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 18), or
tend to create a monopoly or monopsony, and any such
acquisition shall be deemed a violation of such section.
SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT.
(a) Enforcement.--
(1) In general.--
(A) Federal trade commission.--The Commission shall
enforce this Act in the same manner, by the same means,
and with the same jurisdiction, powers, and duties as
though all applicable terms of the Federal Trade
Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incorporated
into and made a part of this Act.
(B) Attorney general.--The Attorney General shall
enforce this Act in the same manner, by the same means,
and with the same jurisdiction, powers and duties as
though all applicable terms 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.) were incorporated into and made a part of this
Act.
(C) State attorneys general.--Any attorney general
of a State shall enforce this Act in the same manner,
by the same means, and with the same jurisdiction,
powers and duties as though all applicable terms of the
Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) and the Clayton Act
(15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.) were incorporated into and made
a part of this Act.
(2) Unfair methods of competition.--A violation of this Act
shall also constitute an unfair method of competition under
section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45).
(3) Independent litigation authority.--If the Commission
has reason to believe that a person violated this Act, the
Commission may commence a civil action, in its own name by any
of its attorneys designated by it for such purpose, to recover
a civil penalty and seek other appropriate relief in any
district court of the United States.
(4) Standards of pleading.--In a civil action under this
subsection, a complaint--
(A) plausibly pleads a violation of section 1 or
3(a) of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1, 3(a)) if the
complaint contains factual allegations, including
allegations of consciously parallel pricing
coordination, demonstrating that the existence of a
contract, combination in the form of trust or
otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or
commerce is among the realm of plausible possibilities;
and
(B) need not allege facts tending to exclude the
possibility of independent action.
(b) Civil Actions by Injured Persons.--
(1) Civil action authorized.--Any person who is aggrieved
by a violation of this Act may bring a civil action in an
appropriate district court of the United States, without
respect to the amount in controversy, to recover an amount
described in paragraph (2).
(2) Award amount.--
(A) In general.--The court shall award to the
plaintiff threefold the damages sustained by the
plaintiff and the reasonable cost of litigation,
including a reasonable attorney fee.
(B) Interest on damages.--Pursuant to a motion by
the plaintiff promptly made, the court may award simple
interest on actual damages sustained by the plaintiff
for the period beginning on the date of service of the
pleading of the plaintiff setting forth a claim under
this Act and ending on the date of judgment, or for any
shorter period therein.
(3) Invalidity of pre-dispute arbitration agreements and
pre-dispute joint action waivers.--At the election of the
plaintiff in an action authorized under paragraph (1), a pre-
dispute arbitration agreement or pre-dispute joint action
waiver relating to a violation of this Act shall be invalid or
unenforceable.
SEC. 5. RELATIONSHIP TO STATE AND LOCAL LAWS.
Nothing in this Act may be construed to preempt any State, Tribal,
city, or local law, regulation, or ordinance that explicitly
supplements this Act.
SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act, or the application of such a
provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be
unconstitutional, the remaining provisions of this Act, and the
application of such provisions to any person or circumstance shall not
be affected thereby.
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