On September 30, 2026, the Governor signed AB 1776 by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, known as the Compete Act. It modernizes the Cartwright Act, California's century-old antitrust statute, which reached only anticompetitive conduct by two or more businesses acting together.
What changed
ReportedUnder the new law, the Attorney General and district attorneys can sue an individual business they believe is engaging in anticompetitive conduct. Unions and consumer groups supported the bill. The California Chamber of Commerce opposed it and won several concessions, and some former supporters say the final bill was weakened. The Governor signed it on the constitutional deadline alongside six small-business bills, and his signing message was described as circumspect (CalMatters).
Why the health-care question matters
AnalysisHealth care is one of California's most consolidated markets. Hospital systems, physician-practice platforms, pharmacy benefit managers, insurers and dental groups have all grown by acquisition. A state law that reaches the conduct of a single dominant firm, not only agreements among several, is the kind of tool that health-care competition policy has lacked at the state level.
Whether AB 1776 actually reaches any particular health-care conduct depends on its exact standard for single-firm liability, its remedies and its exceptions. This site will report on those questions after the chaptered text has been read closely. Until then, the accurate statement is that California has widened the scope of its antitrust law and that its effect on health-care markets is not yet known.