II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3692 

To prohibit the use of algorithmic systems to artificially inflate the price 

or reduce the supply of leased or rented residential dwelling units in 

the United States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 30, 2024 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. WELCH, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. 

BLUMENTHAL, Ms. HIRONO, Ms. BUTLER, and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To prohibit the use of algorithmic systems to artificially 

inflate the price or reduce the supply of leased or rented 

residential dwelling units in the United States. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Preventing the Algo5 rithmic Facilitation of Rental Housing Cartels Act of 

6 2024’’. 

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 


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1 (1) CHAIR.—The term ‘‘Chair’’ means the 

2 Chair of the Commission. 

3 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

4 means the Federal Trade Commission. 

5 (3) CONSCIOUSLY PARALLEL PRICING COORDI6 NATION.—The term ‘‘consciously parallel pricing co7 ordination’’ means a tacit agreement between 2 or 

8 more rental property owners to raise, lower, change, 

9 maintain, or manipulate pricing for the purchase or 

10 sale of reasonably interchangeable products or serv11 ices. 

12 (4) COORDINATING FUNCTION.—The term ‘‘co13 ordinating function’’ means— 

14 (A) collecting historical or contempora15 neous prices, supply levels, or lease or rental 

16 contract termination and renewal dates of resi17 dential dwelling units from 2 or more rental 

18 property owners; 

19 (B) analyzing or processing of the informa20 tion described in subparagraph (A) using a sys21 tem, software, or process that uses computa22 tion, including by using that information to 

23 train an algorithm; and 


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1 (C) recommending rental prices, lease re2 newal terms, or ideal occupancy levels to a rent3 al property owner. 

4 (5) COORDINATOR.—The term ‘‘coordinator’’ 

5 means any person that operates a software or data 

6 analytics service that performs a coordinating func7 tion for any rental property owner, including a rent8 al property owner performing a coordinating func9 tion for their own benefit. 

10 (6) PERSON.—The term ‘‘person’’ has the 

11 meaning given the term in subsection (a) of the first 

12 section of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12). 

13 (7) PRE-DISPUTE ARBITRATION AGREEMENT.— 

14 The term ‘‘pre-dispute arbitration agreement’’ 

15 means an agreement between 2 or more parties to 

16 arbitrate a dispute between the parties that is made 

17 before any dispute has arisen. 

18 (8) PRE-DISPUTE JOINT ACTION WAIVER.—The 

19 term ‘‘pre-dispute joint action waiver’’ means an 

20 agreement between 2 or more parties, which may be 

21 part of a pre-dispute arbitration agreement, that— 

22 (A) would prohibit or waive the right of a 

23 party to participate in a joint, class, or collec24 tive action in a judicial, arbitral, administrative, 


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1 or other forum relating to a dispute between 

2 parties; and 

3 (B) is made before any dispute has arisen. 

4 (9) RESIDENTIAL DWELLING UNIT.—The term 

5 ‘‘residential dwelling unit’’— 

6 (A) means any house, apartment, accessory 

7 unit, or other unit intended to be used as a pri8 mary residence; and 

9 (B) does not include inpatient medical 

10 care, licensed long-term care, and detention or 

11 correctional facilities. 

12 (10) RENTAL PROPERTY OWNER.—The term 

13 ‘‘rental property owner’’ means any individual, cor14 poration, partnership, association, joint-stock compa15 nies, trusts, or unincorporated organizations that 

16 owns real property and leases or rents such property 

17 or any portion thereof in the form of 4 or more resi18 dential dwelling units. 

19 (11) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any 

20 State of the United States, the District of Columbia, 

21 the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and any territory 

22 or possession of the United States. 

23 SEC. 3. UNLAWFUL CONDUCT. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.— 


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1 (1) CONTRACT OR CONSPIRACY IN RESTRAINT

2 OF TRADE.—It is unlawful for a rental property 

3 owner, in or affecting commerce, or any agent or 

4 subcontractor thereof, to subscribe to, contract with, 

5 or otherwise exchange anything of value in return 

6 for the services of a coordinator, and such action 

7 shall be deemed to be a per se violation of the Sher8 man Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.). 

9 (2) FACILITATION.—It is unlawful for a coordi10 nator, in or affecting commerce, to facilitate an 

11 agreement among rental property owners to not 

12 compete with respect to residential dwelling units, 

13 including by performing a coordinating function. 

14 (3) ANTI-COMPETITIVE MERGER.—It is unlaw15 ful for any coordinator, in or affecting commerce, to 

16 acquire, directly or indirectly, the whole or any part 

17 of the stock or other share capital of another coordi18 nator if the acquisition would create an appreciable 

19 risk of materially lessening competition in violation 

20 of section 7 of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 18), or 

21 tend to create a monopoly or monopsony, and any 

22 such acquisition shall be deemed a violation of such 

23 section. 

24 SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT. 

25 (a) ENFORCEMENT.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.— 

2 (A) FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION.—The 

3 Commission shall enforce this Act in the same 

4 manner, by the same means, and with the same 

5 jurisdiction, powers, and duties as though all 

6 applicable terms of the Federal Trade Commis7 sion Act (15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.) were incor8 porated into and made a part of this Act. 

9 (B) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney 

10 General shall enforce this Act in the same man11 ner, by the same means, and with the same ju12 risdiction, powers and duties as though all ap13 plicable terms of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 

14 1 et seq.), Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.), 

15 and Antitrust Civil Process Act (15 U.S.C. 

16 1311 et seq.) were incorporated into and made 

17 a part of this Act. 

18 (C) STATE ATTORNEYS GENERAL.—Any 

19 attorney general of a State shall enforce this 

20 Act in the same manner, by the same means, 

21 and with the same jurisdiction, powers and du22 ties as though all applicable terms of the Sher23 man Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.) and the Clayton 

24 Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.) were incorporated 

25 into and made a part of this Act. 


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1 (2) UNFAIR METHODS OF COMPETITION.—A 

2 violation of this Act shall also constitute an unfair 

3 method of competition under section 5 of the Fed4 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45). 

5 (3) INDEPENDENT LITIGATION AUTHORITY.—If 

6 the Commission has reason to believe that a person 

7 violated this Act, the Commission may commence a 

8 civil action, in its own name by any of its attorneys 

9 designated by it for such purpose, to recover a civil 

10 penalty and seek other appropriate relief in any dis11 trict court of the United States. 

12 (4) STANDARDS OF PLEADING.—In a civil ac13 tion under this subsection, a complaint— 

14 (A) plausibly pleads a violation of section 

15 1 or 3(a) of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1, 

16 3(a)) if the complaint contains factual allega17 tions, including allegations of consciously par18 allel pricing coordination, demonstrating that 

19 the existence of a contract, combination in the 

20 form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in re21 straint of trade or commerce is among the 

22 realm of plausible possibilities; and 

23 (B) need not allege facts tending to ex24 clude the possibility of independent action. 

25 (b) CIVIL ACTIONS BY INJURED PERSONS.— 


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1 (1) CIVIL ACTION AUTHORIZED.—Any person 

2 who is aggrieved by a violation of this Act may bring 

3 a civil action in an appropriate district court of the 

4 United States, without respect to the amount in con5 troversy, to recover an amount described in para6 graph (2). 

7 (2) AWARD AMOUNT.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—The court shall award 

9 to the plaintiff threefold the damages sustained 

10 by the plaintiff and the reasonable cost of liti11 gation, including a reasonable attorney fee. 

12 (B) INTEREST ON DAMAGES.—Pursuant to 

13 a motion by the plaintiff promptly made, the 

14 court may award simple interest on actual dam15 ages sustained by the plaintiff for the period 

16 beginning on the date of service of the pleading 

17 of the plaintiff setting forth a claim under this 

18 Act and ending on the date of judgment, or for 

19 any shorter period therein. 

20 (3) INVALIDITY OF PRE-DISPUTE ARBITRATION

21 AGREEMENTS AND PRE-DISPUTE JOINT ACTION

22 WAIVERS.—At the election of the plaintiff in an ac23 tion authorized under paragraph (1), a pre-dispute 

24 arbitration agreement or pre-dispute joint action 


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1 waiver relating to a violation of this Act shall be in2 valid or unenforceable. 

3 SEC. 5. RELATIONSHIP TO STATE AND LOCAL LAWS. 

4 Nothing in this Act may be construed to preempt any 

5 State, Tribal, city, or local law, regulation, or ordinance 

6 that explicitly supplements this Act. 

7 SEC. 6. SEVERABILITY. 

8 If any provision of this Act, or the application of such 

9 a provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be 

10 unconstitutional, the remaining provisions of this Act, and 

11 the application of such provisions to any person or cir12 cumstance shall not be affected thereby. 

Æ 


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