SF2025

The Fair Competition Act is a consumer protection bill introduced in the Minnesota Senate that aims to regulate monopoly and monopsony power, prohibit price fixing, price discrimination, and excessive price increases, and strengthen enforcement mechanisms. Key provisions include:

1. Definitions and Regulation of Market Power:

   • Defines monopoly power as the ability to control prices or exclude competition.
   • Defines monopsony power as the ability of a single buyer to control demand and pricing.
   • Prohibits the establishment, maintenance, or use of monopoly or monopsony power to control competition or prices.

2. Prohibited Practices:

   • Bans contracts, conspiracies, or combinations that fix prices, limit production, allocate markets, or restrain competitive bidding.
   • Criminalizes aiding and abetting violations of these prohibitions.

3. Penalties and Enforcement:

   • Individuals violating the act face civil fines up to $100,000 per violation; corporations face fines up to $5 million per violation, depending on revenue.
   • Willful violations result in felony charges, with penalties up to $50,000 per violation and seven years of imprisonment.
   • Grants enforcement authority to the Minnesota Attorney General.

4. Unconscionably Excessive Pricing:

   • Prohibits price increases exceeding 10% above past 30-day averages or local market prices.
   • Allows exceptions for price increases justified by documented cost increases.
   • Sets civil penalties up to $10,000 per violative sale or transaction.

5. Statute of Limitations:

   • Establishes a four-year window for legal action, starting from when the violation was discovered or the last violation occurred.

Overall, this bill strengthens Minnesota's laws against anti-competitive behaviors and price gouging, increasing regulatory oversight and penalties for violations.