96 HR 5424 IH: Main Street Competes Act
U.S. House of Representatives
2023-09-13
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
I
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5424
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 13, 2023
Ms. Scholten (for herself, Mr. Luetkemeyer, Ms. Velázquez, and Ms. Tenney) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Small Business
A BILL
To amend the Small Business Economic Policy Act of 1980 to examine how the competitiveness of small businesses is affected by the enforcement of Federal antitrust laws, and for other purposes.
1.

Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Main Street Competes Act”.
2.

Congressional declaration of small business economic policy
Section 302(a) of the Small Business Economic Policy Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 631a(a)) is amended—
(1)
by striking “and provide” and inserting “provide”; and
(2)
by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and promote competitive markets, consumer choice, and business ownership through enforcement of Federal antitrust laws in the case of anticompetitive conduct that harms small businesses and the growth of small businesses.”.
3.

State of small businesses
(a)

In general
Section 303 of the Small Business Economic Policy Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 631b) is amended to read as follows:
“303.

Report on the state of small business concerns
(a)

Specified entity report
Not later than 180 days after the end of fiscal year 2023 and each fiscal year thereafter, the head of each specified entity shall submit to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration a report including—
(1)
an analysis of how enforcement by the specified entity of Federal antitrust laws promoted competition during the preceding fiscal year by deterring and remedying anticompetitive conduct that harms small businesses and the growth of small businesses;
(2)
the number of complaints of alleged antitrust violations filed by small businesses with the specified entity during such fiscal year, disaggregated by category of the alleged antitrust violation, type of offense, and the specific Federal antitrust laws allegedly violated;
(3)
the number of inquiries, investigations, and enforcement actions undertaken by the specified entity in response to complaints filed by small businesses with the specified entity during such fiscal year; and
(4)
the number of inquiries, investigations, and enforcement actions undertaken by the specified entity during such fiscal year pursuant to an alleged antitrust violation, opened for a reason other than described in paragraph (3), to deter and remedy anticompetitive conduct that harms small businesses and the growth of small businesses.
(b)

Office of Advocacy report
Not later than 180 days after receipt of the report required by subsection (a), the Chief Counsel for Advocacy shall submit to the Committee on Small Business of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship of Senate a report that includes—
(1)
a summary of the report submitted under subsection (a);
(2)
an analysis of the data in such report, disaggregated by industry category;
(3)
an evaluation of the issues identified in such report relating to—
(A)
anticompetitive conduct that harmed small businesses and the growth of small businesses; and
(B)
administrative actions that promoted competition and growth of small businesses;
(4)
as appropriate, recommendations for administrative actions that could—
(A)
promote competition;
(B)
deter anticompetitive conduct that harmed small business and the growth of small businesses; and
(C)
remedy such anticompetitive conduct; and
(5)
as appropriate, recommendations for legislative actions that could—
(A)
promote competition;
(B)
deter anticompetitive conduct that harmed small business and the growth of small businesses; and
(C)
remedy such anticompetitive conduct.”.
(b)

Definitions
The Small Business Economic Policy Act of 1980 (Public Law 96–302; 94 Stat. 848; 15 U.S.C. 631a et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section:
“304.

Definitions
In this title:
(1)

Antitrust violation
The term antitrust violation means any violation of Federal antitrust laws.
(2)

Federal antitrust laws
The term Federal antitrust laws has the meaning given the term antitrust laws in subsection (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12(a)), except that such term shall also include section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent that such section 5 applies to unfair methods of competition.
(3)

Small business
The term small business has the meaning given “small business concern” under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632).
(4)

Specified entity
The term specified entity means—
(A)
the Department of Justice; and
(B)
the Federal Trade Commission.”.