Attorney General’s office seeks new state antitrust tools; committee questions scope and investigatory reach

The Office of the Attorney General appeared before the Judiciary Committee March 7 to support HB 7072, which would expand the state’s antitrust enforcement toolkit by adding clearer authority to review mergers, seek disgorgement and enter assurances of voluntary compliance.

Assistant Attorney General Joshua Britt and a second AG representative told members the state already enforces against unlawful anti‑competitive conduct and that the bill would modernize the Connecticut Antitrust Act and give the AG more flexible remedies in markets that are increasingly consolidated. The office argued updated language would allow the state to address harms where monetary damages are hard to measure, including where consumers pay with personal data rather than money.

Lawmakers pressed the AG’s office about the scope and timing of investigatory authority, asking whether a press release about a minority equity purchase would trigger a state inquiry and whether the AG would routinely subpoena private companies’ contracts and financials. The AG said the office would use federal merger guidelines (Herfindahl indices, etc.) to focus on presumptively concentrated markets and would start with research and voluntary outreach; subpoenas and compulsory process would be used only when investigation justified.

Representatives of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association and Connecticut Hospital Association had submitted concerns about allowing private plaintiffs to seek disgorgement remedies; AG officials said courts already guard equitable remedies and that the bill ties courts to equitable principles. The AG said the office could narrowly tailor enforcement and that many other states have similar analogs to the federal Clayton Act.

The committee requested further drafting clarifications about private rights and investigatory limits and asked AG counsel to continue consults with affected industries before votes.