Main Street Competes Act
Officially: “Main Street Competes Act” Read the full text
What it does
Read it in plain language
1Short title
This section states that the Act may be cited as the "Main Street Competes Act."
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1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Main Street Competes Act .
2Congressional declaration of small business economic policy
This section would amend the congressional declaration of small business economic policy in section 302(a) of the Small Business Economic Policy Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 631a(a)). It would add a new declared policy goal: promoting competitive markets, consumer choice, and business ownership through enforcement of Federal antitrust laws in cases of anticompetitive conduct and illegal mergers that harm small businesses and the growth of small businesses. It would also make a conforming wording change to the existing list of policy goals so the sentence reads correctly with the new goal added at the end.
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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 and illegal mergers that harms small businesses and the growth of small businesses. .
3State of small businesses
This section would replace section 303 of the Small Business Economic Policy Act of 1980 (15 U.S.C. 631b) with a new section titled "Report on the state of small business concerns," and would add a new section 304 defining terms used in that title of the Act.
Under the new section 303(a), not later than 180 days after the end of the fiscal year in which this Act is enacted, and every two fiscal years after that, the head of each specified entity (the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, as defined in the new section 304) would have to submit a report to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Office of Advocacy of the Small Business Administration. The report would have to include: an analysis of how the entity's enforcement of Federal antitrust laws promoted competition during the preceding fiscal year by deterring and remedying anticompetitive conduct, including illegal mergers, that harms small businesses and their growth; the number of complaints of alleged antitrust violations filed by self-identified small businesses with the entity during that fiscal year, broken down by type of offense and the specific Federal antitrust laws allegedly violated; the number of inquiries, investigations, and enforcement actions the entity undertook in response to those small business complaints during that fiscal year; and the number of inquiries, investigations, and enforcement actions the entity undertook during that fiscal year over an alleged antitrust violation that were opened for a reason other than a small business complaint, in order to deter and remedy anticompetitive conduct harming small businesses and their growth.
Under the new section 303(b), not later than 180 days after receiving the entities' reports, the Chief Counsel for Advocacy would have to submit a report to the House Committee on Small Business and the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. That report would have to include: a summary of the entities' reports; an analysis of the data in those reports broken down by industry category; an evaluation of the issues identified in those reports relating to anticompetitive conduct, including illegal mergers, that harmed small businesses and their growth, and administrative actions that promoted competition and small business growth; and, as appropriate, recommendations for administrative actions and separately for legislative actions that could promote competition, deter anticompetitive conduct and illegal mergers harming small businesses and their growth, and remedy such conduct.
This section would also add a new section 304 to the Act defining, for purposes of that title: "antitrust violation" as any violation of Federal antitrust laws; "Federal antitrust laws" as having the meaning given to "antitrust laws" in the first section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12(a)), plus section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) to the extent that section applies to unfair methods of competition; "small business" as having the meaning given to "small business concern" under section 3 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 632); and "specified entity" as meaning the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
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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 the fiscal year in which the Main Street Competes Act is enacted, and every two fiscal years 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, including illegal mergers, that harms small businesses and the growth of small businesses; (2) the number of complaints of alleged antitrust violations filed by self-identified small businesses with the specified entity during such fiscal year, disaggregated by 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 a complaint filed by a small business as 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, including illegal mergers, 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, including illegal mergers, 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, including illegal mergers, 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 the term 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. .
Where it is
In the House.