[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2818 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2818

    To amend the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, to make unlawful 
   acquisitions that would create monopolies, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 14, 2023

  Mr. Hawley introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
               referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921, to make unlawful 
   acquisitions that would create monopolies, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Strengthening Antitrust Enforcement 
for Meatpacking Act of 2023''.

SEC. 2. UNLAWFUL ACTIVITIES UNDER PACKERS AND STOCKYARDS ACT, 1921.

    Section 202 of the Packers and Stockyards Act, 1921 (7 U.S.C. 192), 
is amended--
            (1) in each of subsections (a) through (f), by striking ``; 
        or'' at the end and inserting a period;
            (2) in subsection (e) (as amended by paragraph (1)), by 
        inserting ``, in accordance with subsection (b)'' before the 
        period at the end;
            (3) in subsection (f)--
                    (A) by striking ``(1)'';
                    (B) by striking ``or (2)''; and
                    (C) by striking ``(3)'';
            (4) in subsection (g), by striking ``made unlawful by 
        subdivision (a), (b), (c), (d), or (e)'' and inserting 
        ``described in paragraphs (1) through (5)'';
            (5) by redesignating subsections (a) through (g) as 
        paragraphs (1) through (7), respectively, and indenting 
        appropriately;
            (6) by striking the section designation and all that 
        follows through ``It shall be unlawful'' in the matter 
        preceding paragraph (1) (as so redesignated) and inserting the 
        following:

``SEC. 202. UNLAWFUL ACTIVITIES.

    ``(a) In General.--It shall be unlawful'';
            (7) in subsection (a) (as so designated), in the matter 
        preceding paragraph (1) (as so redesignated), by striking 
        ``to:'' and inserting ``to carry out the following 
        activities:''; and
            (8) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Acquisition Creating a Monopoly.--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of subsection (a)(5), an 
        acquisition shall be deemed to create a monopoly if the 
        acquisition would--
                    ``(A) result in a Herfindahl-Hirschman Index 
                greater than 1,800 in any relevant market; or
                    ``(B) increase the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index by 
                more than 100 in any relevant market.
            ``(2) Clayton act violation.--Any acquisition deemed to 
        create a monopoly under paragraph (1) shall be considered a 
        violation of section 7 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 18).''.
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