Senate BillPassed first houseBusiness and Professions
SB 384: Preventing Algorithmic Price Fixing Act: prohibition on certain price-setting algorithm uses.
What SB 384 does, verified December 13, 2025
The bill aims to prohibit the use of price-setting algorithms that process nonpublic data to set prices or supply levels of goods and services, or rent levels of rental properties. It would make it a violation to use such algorithms with the intent or reasonable expectation that competitors will use them. A user of the algorithm could claim an affirmative defense if they exercised reasonable due diligence. The Attorney General or local attorneys could file civil actions against violators, with potential penalties of up to $1,000 per violation. Violating contracts would be considered void, and antitrust laws would still apply.
Bill journey
✓IntroducedComplete
✓In CommitteeComplete
✓First Chamber FloorComplete
4Second ChamberCurrent
5GovernorPending
6ChapteredPending
Last action: August 29 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. (2025-08-29)Alert me
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| Aug. 29, 2025 | August 29 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. |
| Aug. 20, 2025 | August 20 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file. |
| Aug. 20, 2025 | August 20 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file. |
| Jul. 17, 2025 | Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Ayes 49. Noes 15. Page 2578.) |
| Jul. 17, 2025 | Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. |
Latest bill textAmended version, July 17, 2025 · 911 words
| Amended IN Assembly July 17, 2025 |
| Amended IN Assembly June 26, 2025 |
| Amended IN Senate April 24, 2025 |
| Amended IN Senate April 08, 2025 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 384
| Introduced by Senator Wahab |
February 14, 2025 |
An act to add Chapter 40 (commencing with Section 22949.85) to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to business.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 384, as amended, Wahab. Preventing Algorithmic Price Fixing Act: prohibition on certain price-setting algorithm uses.
Existing law governs various business practices in this state, including certain laws relating to the use of technology. Existing law, commonly known as the Cartwright Act, identifies certain acts that are unlawful restraints of trade and unlawful trusts and prescribes provisions for its enforcement through civil actions.
This bill, the Preventing Algorithmic Price Fixing Act, would prohibit a person from selling, licensing, providing, or using a price-setting algorithm, as defined, with the intent or reasonable expectation that it be used by 2 or more competitors, as defined, in the same market if the person knows or should know that the algorithm processes nonpublic data, as defined, to set either: (1) a price or supply level of a good or service or (2) a rent or occupancy level of rental property. The bill would provide a person user of a price-setting algorithm an affirmative defense to liability if the person user exercised reasonable due diligence, as specified. The bill would authorize the Attorney General or a district attorney, city attorney, or county counsel to file a civil action for violations of these provisions, as specified, including for a civil penalty of up to $1,000 per violation, as specified.
This bill would declare that a contract that violates these provisions is to that extent void and that its provisions do not limit the applicability of antitrust laws.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Preventing Algorithmic Price Fixing Act.SEC. 2.
Chapter 40 (commencing with Section 22949.85) is added to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, to read:CHAPTER 40. Price-Setting Algorithm
22949.85.
(a) A person shall not sell, license, provide, or use a price-setting algorithm with the intent or reasonable expectation that it be used by two or more competitors in the same market if the person knows or should know that the algorithm processes nonpublic input data to set either of the following: (1) A price or supply level of a good or service.
(2) A rent or occupancy level of rental property.
(b) It shall be an affirmative defense to liability for a person user of a price-setting algorithm who demonstrates by clear and convincing the preponderance of the evidence that they exercised reasonable due diligence, including obtaining written assurances from the person selling, licensing, or providing the algorithm that the algorithm does not process nonpublic input data.
(c) (1) For a person who sells, licenses, or provides a price-setting algorithm in violation of subdivision (a), each authorized user of, or user under a license for, the price-setting algorithm constitutes a separate violation.
(2) For the purposes of a person who uses a price-setting algorithm in violation of subdivision (a), each calendar month of use constitutes a separate violation.
(d) The Attorney General or a district attorney, in the name of the people of the State of California, or a city attorney or county counsel, in the name of the city or county, may file a civil action for a violation of this section to recover actual damages or for injunctive relief, restitution, or civil penalties of up to one thousand dollars ($1,000) per violation, or any combination of those remedies. The court shall award reasonable attorney’s fees and costs to the Attorney General, district attorney, city attorney, or county counsel, as applicable, if they are the prevailing party in the action.
(e) A contract that conflicts with this section is to that extent void.
(f) This section does not limit the applicability of antitrust laws.
(e)
(g) For the purposes of this section:
(1) “Artificial intelligence” means an engineered or machine-based system that varies in its level of autonomy and that can, for explicit or implicit objectives, infer from the input it receives how to generate outputs that can influence a physical or virtual environment.
(2) “Antitrust laws” has the same meaning as defined in the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 12), and includes Section 45 of Title 15 of the United States Code, including provisions commonly known as the Cartwright Act (Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 16700) of Part 2 of Division 7).
(2)
(3)
“Nonpublic input data” means data that is confidential, nonpublic, and sensitive information of(3)
(4)
(A) “Price-setting algorithm” means a software, computer system, computer process, algorithmic program, or artificial intelligence that processes nonpublic input data for the purpose of producing a pricing or rental strategy.(B) “Price-setting algorithm” does not include a multiple listing service, as that term is defined in Section 1087 of the Civil Code.
(4)
(5)
“Competitors” means two or more persons or business entities, including landlords, that offer similar or substitutable goods, services, or real property for lease in the same relevant market to the same or overlapping customer base.Text of SB 384 as amended, from the official record. Connect Plus keeps every version and highlights what changed.Compare versions