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SB-697 Conspiracy against trade: punishment.(2023-2024)



Current Version: 07/03/24 - Amended Assembly

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SB697:v96#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  July 03, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  May 20, 2024
Amended  IN  Assembly  June 21, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 697

Introduced by Senator Hurtado

February 16, 2023

An act to amend Section 16755 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to business.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 697, as amended, Hurtado. Conspiracy against trade: punishment.
Existing law, known as the Cartwright Act, generally regulates trusts, which the act defines as a combination of capital, skill, or acts by 2 or more persons for certain purposes, including to create or carry out restrictions in trade or commerce. If a violator of the act is a corporation, the act punishes the violator by a fine of the greater of an amount not more than $1,000,000 and an amount related to the pecuniary gain from the violation or the pecuniary loss to another by the violation, as prescribed. If a violator of the act is an individual, the act punishes the violator by imprisonment of one, 2, or 3 years in a state prison or county jail, as specified, imprisonment of not more than one year in a county jail, by a fine of not more than the greater of $250,000 and an amount related to the pecuniary gain from the violation or the pecuniary loss to another by the violation, or by both a fine and imprisonment.
This bill would would, on or after January 1, 2026, increase the fine described above with respect to corporate violators to $100,000,000. The bill would also increase the term of imprisonment in a state prison or county jail described above to not more than 10 years and would increase the fine described above with respect to an individual violator to $1,000,000. By increasing the maximum term an individual violator could serve in a county prison, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 16755 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:

16755.
 (a) Any violation of this chapter is a conspiracy against trade, and any person who engages in any such conspiracy or takes part therein, or aids or advises in its commission, or who as principal, manager, director, agent, servant or employee, or in any other capacity, knowingly carries out any of the stipulations, purposes, prices, rates, or furnishes any information to assist in carrying out such purposes, or orders thereunder or in pursuance thereof, is punishable, as follows:
(1) If the violator is a corporation, by a fine of not more than one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) or the applicable amount under paragraph (3), whichever is greater.
(2) If the violator is an individual, by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 of the Penal Code for not more than 10 years, by imprisonment for not more than one year in a county jail, by a fine of not more than the greater of one million dollars ($1,000,000) and a fine of the applicable amount under paragraph (3), or by both a fine and imprisonment.
(3) If any person derives pecuniary gain from a violation of this chapter, or the violation results in pecuniary loss to a person other than the violator, the violator may be fined not more than an amount equal to the amount of the gross gain multiplied by two or an amount equal to the amount of the gross loss multiplied by two, whichever is applicable.
(b) Any action pursuant to this section may be commenced at any time within four years after the commission of the last act comprising a part of any violation. No cause of action barred under existing law on the effective date of the amendment of this section at the 1977–78 Regular Session of the Legislature shall be revived by such amendment.
(c) Subject to Section 13521 of the Penal Code, all moneys received by any court in payment of any fine or civil penalty imposed pursuant to this section shall, as soon as practicable after receipt thereof, be deposited with the county treasurer of the county in which the court is situated. Amounts so deposited shall be paid as soon as practicable as follows: 100 percent to the Treasurer by warrant of the county auditor drawn upon the requisition of the clerk or judge of said court to be deposited in the State Treasury on order of the Controller if the moneys received resulted from an action initiated and prosecuted by the Attorney General. If the action was initiated and prosecuted by a district attorney then 100 percent shall be paid as soon as practicable to the treasurer of the county in which the prosecution is conducted. If the action was initiated and prosecuted jointly by the Attorney General and a district attorney or jointly by more than one district attorney, such amounts shall be paid to the State Treasurer and to the treasurer(s) of the county or counties participating in the prosecution in a proportion agreed upon by the agencies jointly prosecuting such case and as approved by the court.
(d) The amendments made to this section by the act adding this subdivision shall become operative on January 1, 2026.

SEC. 2.

 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.