Attorneys General from Oregon, California, Washington, Nevada, and New York to Highlight State-Led Wins – and Call for Resources to Address Growing Corporate Consolidation
Attorney General Dan Rayfield will host a multistate press conference today to highlight the critical antitrust enforcement work state attorneys general have been doing, and to make the case that states need more resources to keep doing it. The Oregon Department of Justice (ODOJ) plans to ask state lawmakers next month to double its antitrust unit’s capacity.
“There are families who are paying more for groceries, getting squeezed on their cable bill, or watching their local newscast get hollowed out, and they have no idea a corporate merger is the reason why,” said Attorney General Rayfield. “That’s what’s happening around the country, and it’s why we’ve been fighting back. But the federal government is no longer a partner in this work, and the work doesn’t stop. States have been filling that gap, and we need the resources to keep doing it.”
For years, states have partnered with the federal government to take on some of the biggest corporate mergers in American history. But as US DOJ’s antitrust division has lost key leadership and career attorneys and federal priorities shifted away from protecting consumers, state attorneys general stepped up to protect Americans from illegal mergers and monopolies. State AGs have a proven track record of collaborating across state lines and winning, and this multistate effort is one of the most significant in years.
In February, Gail Slater, the U.S. Assistant Attorney General for the antitrust division, was forced out. US DOJ’s antitrust division has since seen a mass exodus of career lawyers and enforcement priorities have shifted sharply. One example is when the Trump administration settled the Live Nation/Ticketmaster case against the wishes of the 34 states that had co-signed the lawsuit, it fell to state attorneys general to keep fighting. They did – and in mid-April, they won.
States have legal authority the federal government doesn’t, including the ability to bring a jury trial in antitrust cases. Oregon has already demonstrated what state-led antitrust enforcement can accomplish. Oregon co-led the successful effort to block the Kroger-Albertsons merger – what would have been the largest grocery merger in American history – protecting consumers and union workers across the country.
Oregon is currently pursuing active cases involving the consolidation of internet networking infrastructure, local TV news ownership in Portland, and other mergers that threaten competition and consumer choice. These cases span groceries, entertainment, internet service, and local news – the places where monopoly power hits closest to home.
Antitrust cases are complex, time-intensive, and require specialized expertise. Currently, ODOJ has 8 positions to work on these cases. This limited staffing has historically meant that ODOJ has relied on following the lead of others – like states or the federal government – for these resource-heavy cases. In this environment, that structure no longer serves Oregonians. ODOJ is asking state lawmakers in June to approve 16 positions so it can increase capacity to fill the vacuum left by the federal government. One structural advantage to antitrust cases is that attorney fees can often be recovered when states succeed and do not require general funds from the legislature. That means much of the cost of this work can be shifted back to the corporations that forced it – not to Oregon taxpayers.
Joining Attorney General Rayfield today are California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, and New York Attorney Letitia James. Watch today’s press conference live on YouTube at 11am PT(opens in a new tab/window).