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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6124 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 6124
To prohibit the manipulation of rent prices in the United States, and
for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
November 19, 2025
Ms. Balint (for herself, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Bonamici, Mr.
Casar, Ms. Craig, Mr. Deluzio, Mr. Gomez, Ms. Goodlander, Mr. Johnson
of Georgia, Ms. Jayapal, Ms. Norton, Ms. Omar, Mrs. Ramirez, Ms.
Salinas, and Ms. Tlaib) introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the manipulation of rent prices in the United States, and
for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``End Rent Fixing Act of 2025''.
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Federal
Trade Commission.
(2) Coordinating function.--The term ``coordinating
function'' means--
(A) collecting historical or contemporaneous
prices, supply levels, or lease or rental contract
termination and renewal dates of residential dwelling
units, either directly or indirectly, from 2 or more
rental property owners;
(B) analyzing or processing the information
described in subparagraph (A) using a system, software,
or process that uses the same or a similar formula or
methodology, including by using that information to
train an algorithm to predict rental prices, lease
renewal terms, or ideal occupancy levels; and
(C) recommending rental prices, lease renewal
terms, or occupancy levels to 2 or more rental property
owners.
(3) Coordinator.--The term ``coordinator'' means any person
that performs a coordinating function for any rental property
owner, including a rental property owner performing a
coordinating function for their own benefit.
(4) Person.--The term ``person'' has the meaning given the
term in subsection (a) of the first section of the Clayton Act
(15 U.S.C. 12).
(5) Residential dwelling unit.--The term ``residential
dwelling unit''--
(A) means any house, apartment, accessory unit,
manufactured home, manufactured housing community lot,
or other unit used as a residence; and
(B) does not include inpatient medical care,
licensed long-term care, and detention or correctional
facilities.
(6) Rental property owner.--The term ``rental property
owner'' means any individual, corporation, partnership,
association, joint-stock company, trust, or unincorporated
organization, including an organization not organized to carry
on business for its own profit or that of its members, that
owns real property and leases or rents such property or any
portion thereof.
(7) State.--The term ``State'' means any State of the
United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of
Puerto Rico, and any territory or possession of the United
States.
SEC. 3. UNLAWFUL CONDUCT.
(a) Conspiracy.--It shall be unlawful for a rental property owner,
in or affecting commerce, or any agent or subcontractor thereof, to
knowingly subscribe to, contract with, or otherwise exchange anything
of value in return for the services of a coordinator, and such action
shall be deemed to be an unlawful method of competition in violation of
section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) and a per
se violation of section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1).
(b) Coordination.--It shall be unlawful for any person, in or
affecting commerce, to perform a coordinating function, and such action
shall be deemed to be an unlawful method of competition in violation of
section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45) and a per
se violation of section 1 of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1).
SEC. 4. ENFORCEMENT.
(a) In General.--
(1) Federal trade commission.--A violation of this Act
shall also constitute an unfair method of competition under
section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45),
and if the Commission has reason to believe that a person
violated this Act, the Commission--
(A) may commence a civil action, in its own name by
any of its attorneys designated by it for such purpose,
to recover a civil penalty and seek other appropriate
relief; and
(B) shall have jurisdiction to enforce this Act
against an organization not organized to carry on
business for its own profit or that of its members.
(2) Attorney general.--The Attorney General shall enforce
this Act in the same manner, by the same means, and with the
same jurisdiction, powers and duties as though all applicable
terms of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.), Clayton Act (15
U.S.C. 12 et seq.), and Antitrust Civil Process Act (15 U.S.C.
1311 et seq.) were incorporated into and made a part of this
Act.
(3) State attorneys general.--Any attorney general of a
State shall enforce this Act in the same manner, by the same
means, and with the same jurisdiction, powers and duties as
though all applicable terms of the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et
seq.) and the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et seq.) were
incorporated into and made a part of this Act.
(b) Civil Actions by Injured Persons .--
(1) Civil action authorized.--Any person who is aggrieved
by a violation of this Act may bring a civil action in an
appropriate district court of the United States, without
respect to the amount in controversy, to recover an amount
described in paragraph (2).
(2) Award amount.--
(A) In general.--The court shall award the
plaintiff threefold the damages sustained by the
plaintiff and the reasonable cost of litigation,
including a reasonable attorney fee.
(B) Interest on damages.--Pursuant to a motion by
plaintiff promptly made, the court may award simple
interest on actual damages sustained by the plaintiff
for the period beginning on the date of service of the
pleading of the plaintiff setting forth a claim under
this Act and ending on the date of judgment, or for any
shorter period therein.
(3) Invalidity of pre-dispute arbitration agreements and
pre-dispute joint action waivers.--At the election of the
plaintiff in an action authorized under paragraph (1), a pre-
dispute arbitration agreement or pre-dispute joint action
waiver relating to a violation of this Act shall be invalid or
unenforceable.
SEC. 5. STANDARDS OF PLEADING.
In a civil action alleging a violation of sections 1 or 3(a) of the
Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1, 3(a)), including an action brought by the
United States, a State attorney general, or the Federal Trade
Commission under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15
U.S.C. 45), a complaint need not allege facts tending to exclude the
possibility of independent action and shall not be dismissed for
failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the
claimant can prove no set of facts in support of their claim which
would entitle them to relief.
SEC. 6. RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER LAWS.
(a) Antitrust Laws.--Nothing in this Act, or any amendment made by
this Act, shall be construed to impair or supersede the operation of
any of the antitrust laws, and the unlawful conduct set forth in this
Act is in addition to and not instead of conduct prohibited by the
antitrust laws.
(b) State Laws.--Nothing in this Act may be construed to preempt,
annul, alter, or affect, or exempt any person subject to the provisions
of this Act from complying with the laws of any State, except to the
extent that those laws are inconsistent with any provision of this Act,
and then only to the extent of the inconsistency. For purposes of this
section, a State law is not inconsistent with this Act if the
protection such law affords any person greater than the protection
provided by this Act.
SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY.
If any provision of this Act, or the application of such a
provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be
unconstitutional, the remaining provisions of this Act, and the
application of such provisions to any person or circumstance shall not
be affected thereby.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
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