Sponsors (2)
The bill strengthens protections and simplifies recovery for purchasers harmed by discriminatory pricing or service practices, but it raises legal exposure and potential cost pass-throughs that could increase litigation, compliance burdens, and consumer prices.
Buyers and purchasers (including middle-class families and small businesses) gain broader legal protection because anti-discrimination rules now explicitly cover 'products or services' and activities 'affecting commerce', allowing more parties to sue for discriminatory pricing or service practices.
Plaintiffs (small business owners and individual purchasers) get a simpler path to recovery because courts must presume injury and award damages equal to the monetary amount of the unlawful discrimination, reducing litigation hurdles.
Victims (small businesses and consumers) can recover additional damages beyond the presumptive award if they can demonstrate extra losses caused by the discriminatory conduct, preserving relief for larger harms.
Businesses (especially small and mid-sized firms) face expanded antitrust liability because the law covers more conduct and items, increasing litigation risk and compliance costs.
Consumers (middle-class families and taxpayers) may see higher prices or fewer offerings if firms pass on increased legal risk and settlement costs created by large presumed-damage awards.
Smaller retailers and intermediaries face uneven legal exposure because the bill applies a narrower mens rea (intent) standard for some firms—liability only if they knowingly induced or benefited—creating potentially confusing, uneven enforcement by firm size.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Expands Clayton Act coverage to products and services and any activity affecting commerce, adjusts purchaser liability rules, and creates a conclusive presumption of damages equal to the unlawful discrimination.
Introduced April 2, 2026 by Marie Gluesenkamp Perez · Last progress April 2, 2026
Amends the Clayton Act to broaden price-discrimination and purchaser-liability rules and to make damages easier to recover. It replaces "goods, wares, or merchandise" with "products or services" and expands coverage from conduct "in commerce" to conduct "in commerce or in any activity affecting commerce," adds purchaser definitions, changes who can be held liable for inducing or receiving benefits of unlawful conduct (with a knowledge limitation for purchasers with annual retail sales ≤ $100 billion), and creates a conclusive presumption that an unlawfully discriminated plaintiff has suffered damages equal to the monetary amount of the discrimination (plus any additional caused damages). The changes apply to transactions on or after enactment.