UPDATE 2 – US House of Representatives approves antitrust merger bill that will give states more power

(New throughout, adds details and background)

Diane Bartz

WASHINGTON, Sept 29 (Reuters) –

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a bill Thursday that would significantly raise fees for antitrust reviews of major mergers and strengthen state attorneys general in antitrust fights.

The bipartisan bill, which has not yet passed the U.S. Senate, combines a merger fee bill introduced by Rep. Joe Neguse, a Democrat, and a measure to authorize state attorneys general to choose venue for antitrust lawsuits, introduced by Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican .

The bill, which passed the House 242-184, is one of several measures under consideration that would strengthen antitrust enforcement authorities to rein in Big Tech.

One bill would prohibit Big Tech companies such as Alphabet’s Google and Amazon.com from favoring their own products on the platforms, while another would address the influence of Apple and Google in their app stores. Hopes are fading that they will become law this year.

Legislation passed by the House on Thursday would reduce fees paid to review smaller transactions for antitrust violations to just $30,000. Larger offers will be more expensive. For transactions worth $5 billion or more, you will have to pay $2.25 million to review them.

A previous version of the filing fee bill included budget increases for the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission, but they were removed, according to a congressional aide. The U.S. Senate has passed a bill giving state prosecutors the right to choose where antitrust fights take place, but has not passed a measure to update merger filing fees.

Texas joined other states in filing an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc’s Google in 2020, and the search and advertising giant managed to move from Texas to a New York court, angering conservatives.

In the Senate, the bill gained public support from Republicans Mike Lee, Chuck Grassley and Tom Cotton, as well as Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Dick Durbin. It is not known when and whether the Senate will vote on the bill.

Opposition to the bill came from Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, who joined at least four other Democrats from her home state of Silicon Valley in calling for the bill’s defeat due to space constraints. California is home to several major technology companies, including Facebook, Google and Meta Platforms. (Reporting by Diane Bartz and Richard Cowan; Editing by Franklin Paul, Jonathan Oatis and David Gregorio)