[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3692 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3692

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 30, 2024

  Mr. Wyden (for himself, Mr. Welch, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Sanders, Mr. 
  Blumenthal, Ms. Hirono, Ms. Butler, and Mr. Merkley) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and 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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