One Agency Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2926 To transfer antitrust enforcement functions from the Federal Trade Commission to the Department of Justice, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 30, 2021 Mr. JOHNSON of Louisiana (for himself, Mr. JORDAN, and Mr. STEUBE) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To transfer antitrust enforcement functions from the Federal Trade Commission to the Department of Justice, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘One Agency Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 5 Congress finds the following: 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2926 IH (1) It is the policy of the United States to pro- 1 mote the vigorous, effective, and efficient enforce- 2 ment of the antitrust laws. 3 (2) The overlapping antitrust enforcement ju- 4 risdiction of the Department of Justice and the Fed- 5 eral Trade Commission has wasted taxpayer re- 6 sources, hampered enforcement efforts, and caused 7 uncertainty for businesses and consumers in the 8 United States. 9 (3) It is preferable that primary Federal re- 10 sponsibility for enforcing the antitrust laws of the 11 United States be given to a single agency, and the 12 Department of Justice is best suited to do so. 13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 14 In this Act: 15 (1) ANTITRUST LAWS.—The term ‘‘antitrust 16 laws’’ means— 17 (A) the Sherman Act (15 U.S.C. 1 et seq.); 18 and 19 (B) the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 12 et 20 seq.). 21 (2) ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The 22 term ‘‘Assistant Attorney General’’ means the As- 23 sistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division 24 of the Department of Justice. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2926 IH (3) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 1 means the Federal Trade Commission. 2 (4) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The term ‘‘effective 3 date’’ means the date described in section 7. 4 (5) FTC ANTITRUST ACTION.—The term ‘‘FTC 5 antitrust action’’ means any litigation or administra- 6 tive proceeding initiated by the Commission that— 7 (A) is supervised by an FTC Antitrust 8 Unit; or 9 (B) relates to the antitrust laws or section 10 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 11 U.S.C. 45), as in effect on the day before the 12 effective date. 13 (6) FTC ANTITRUST ASSETS.—The term ‘‘FTC 14 antitrust assets’’— 15 (A) means all electronic or tangible records 16 and files relating to matters supervised, as well 17 as any physical assets or equipment owned and 18 used or retained, by an FTC Antitrust Unit; 19 and 20 (B) does not include any office space or 21 leased facilities or equipment. 22 (7) FTC ANTITRUST EMPLOYEE.—The term 23 ‘‘FTC antitrust employee’’ means an individual who 24 on the day before the effective date is employed by 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2926 IH the Federal Trade Commission and assigned to an 1 FTC Antitrust Unit. 2 (8) FTC ANTITRUST FUNCTION.—The term 3 ‘‘FTC antitrust function’’ means a function of the 4 Commission relating to the antitrust laws or unfair 5 methods of competition under section 5 of the Fed- 6 eral Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45), as in ef- 7 fect on the day before the effective date. 8 (9) FTC ANTITRUST FUNDING.—The term 9 ‘‘FTC antitrust funding’’ means— 10 (A) all amounts appropriated before the ef- 11 fective date by an Act of Congress to the Fed- 12 eral Trade Commission that are designated, by 13 Congress or the Commission, for an FTC Anti- 14 trust Unit; and 15 (B) all fees collected by the Federal Trade 16 Commission before the effective date under sec- 17 tion 7A of the Clayton Act (15 U.S.C. 18a) and 18 rules issued under that section. 19 (10) FTC ANTITRUST UNIT.—The term ‘‘FTC 20 Antitrust Unit’’ means— 21 (A) the Bureau of Competition of the 22 Commission; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2926 IH (B) each division of the Bureau of Eco- 1 nomics of the Commission that is designated to 2 work on FTC antitrust actions. 3 (11) FUNCTION.—The term ‘‘function’’ means 4 any duty, obligation, power, authority, responsibility, 5 right, privilege, activity, or program. 6 (12) TRANSITION PERIOD.—The term ‘‘transi- 7 tion period’’ means the period beginning on the ef- 8 fective date of this Act and ending on the later of— 9 (A) the date that is 1 year after the effec- 10 tive date of this Act; or 11 (B) the date that is 180 days after the 12 date described in subparagraph (A), which may 13 be extended by the Assistant Attorney General 14 once for an additional 180 days, if the Assist- 15 ant Attorney General determines that a period 16 longer than the period described in subpara- 17 graph (A) is necessary to avoid harm to the in- 18 terests of the United States or the effective en- 19 forcement of the antitrust laws. 20 SEC. 4. TRANSFER OF ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT FUNC- 21 TIONS FROM THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMIS- 22 SION TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. 23 (a) TRANSFER OF FUNCTIONS.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2926 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 1 graph (3)(D), there shall be transferred to the De- 2 partment of Justice all FTC antitrust functions, 3 FTC antitrust employees, FTC antitrust assets, and 4 FTC antitrust funding on the earlier of— 5 (A) the date determined by the Assistant 6 Attorney General under paragraph (2)(B); or 7 (B) the end of the transition period. 8 (2) REQUIREMENT.—The Assistant Attorney 9 General, taking care to minimize disruption to ongo- 10 ing enforcement matters and in consultation as nec- 11 essary with the Attorney General, the Office of Per- 12 sonnel Management, the General Services Adminis- 13 tration, and the Chairman of the Commission, 14 shall— 15 (A) take all necessary actions to complete 16 implementation of this Act before the end of the 17 transition period; and 18 (B) determine the dates certain, which 19 may not be earlier than the effective date nor 20 later than the end of the transition period, on 21 which the transfers under paragraph (1) shall 22 occur. 23 (3) PERSONNEL.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2926 IH (A) ASSIGNMENT.—An FTC antitrust em- 1 ployee transferred to the Department of Justice 2 under this Act shall be assigned to the Anti- 3 trust Division of the Department of Justice. 4 (B) EFFECT ON PERSONNEL.—Except as 5 provided in subparagraph (C), the transfer 6 under this Act of an FTC antitrust employee 7 shall not cause the employee to be separated or 8 reduced in grade or compensation for 1 year 9 after the transfer date. 10 (C) EXECUTIVE SCHEDULE.—Notwith- 11 standing subparagraph (B), the Assistant At- 12 torney General may appoint an FTC antitrust 13 employee in a Senior Executive Service position, 14 as defined in section 3132 of title 5, United 15 States Code, to a position within the Antitrust 16 Division rate payable for a position at level 15, 17 step 10 of the General Schedule. 18 (D) VOLUNTARY NONTRANSFER OF PER- 19 SONNEL.—Notwithstanding paragraph (1), an 20 FTC antitrust employee may, with the consent 21 of the Chairman of the Commission, elect to re- 22 main an employee of the Commission assigned 23 to a non-FTC Antitrust Unit. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2926 IH (E) OFFICE SPACE.—Upon request from 1 the Assistant Attorney General, and in con- 2 sultation as necessary with the General Services 3 Administration, the Commission shall allow the 4 Department of Justice to use any office space 5 or leased facilities previously used by FTC anti- 6 trust employees until such time as the Depart- 7 ment of Justice may provide its own office 8 space or facilities. After the transfer of FTC 9 antitrust funding to the Department of Justice, 10 the Department of Justice shall compensate the 11 Commission for the costs of the use of such of- 12 fice space or leased facilities. 13 (F) RESTRUCTURING.—Notwithstanding 14 any other provision of law, the Assistant Attor- 15 ney General is authorized to restructure the 16 Antitrust Division before the expiration of the 17 transition period, as the Assistant Attorney 18 General determines is appropriate, to carry out 19 the purposes of this Act and accomplish the ef- 20 ficient enforcement of the antitrust laws. 21 (4) ANTITRUST ACTIONS.— 22 (A) IN GENERAL.—As soon as is reason- 23 ably practicable during the transition period, all 24 open investigations, litigations, matters, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2926 IH other proceedings being supervised by an FTC 1 antitrust unit and relating to the antitrust laws 2 or unfair methods of competition under section 3 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (15 4 U.S.C. 45), as in effect on the day before the 5 effective date, shall be transferred to and as- 6 sumed by the Department of Justice. 7 (B) HANDLING OF CERTAIN ADMINISTRA- 8 TIVE PROCEEDINGS.—Administrative pro- 9 ceedings that were initiated by the Commission, 10 were unresolved as of the first day of the tran- 11 sition period, and relate to enforcement of the 12 antitrust laws or unfair methods of competition 13 under section 5 of the Federal Trade Commis- 14 sion Act (15 U.S.C. 45), as in effect on the day 15 before the effective date, shall be treated in the 16 following manner: 17 (i) Any such proceeding pending be- 18 fore an administrative law judge shall be 19 dismissed without prejudice and the matter 20 shall be referred to the Assistant Attorney 21 General. 22 (ii) For any such proceeding pending 23 on appeal before the Commission, the ad- 24 ministrative appeal shall cease, the ruling 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2926 IH of the administrative law judge shall be 1 treated as the final decision of the Com- 2 mission, and the Court of Appeals for the 3 District of Columbia Circuit shall have ju- 4 risdiction over any appeal therefrom. 5 (C) INTERVENTION.— 6 (i) IN GENERAL.—In any FTC anti- 7 trust action before a court of the United 8 States as of the first day of the transition 9 period, the court shall allow the Depart- 10 ment of Justice to— 11 (I) intervene and assume rep- 12 resentation of the Federal Govern- 13 ment from the Commission; and 14 (II) amend any complaint origi- 15 nally brought by the Commission for 16 the purpose of alleging violations of 17 statutes other than the Federal Trade 18 Commission Act as necessary and 19 where appropriate. 20 (ii) SCHEDULING ORDER UPON RE- 21 QUEST.—Upon the request of the Commis- 22 sion or the Department of Justice, and in 23 consultation with all parties to the matter, 24 the court shall issue an order making such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2926 IH scheduling adjustments as necessary to fa- 1 cilitate the transfer of prosecutorial re- 2 sponsibilities under this subparagraph. 3 (D) CONSENT DECREES.—At the end of 4 the transition period, the Department of Justice 5 shall have sole authority to enforce violations 6 of, approve modifications to, or rescind any con- 7 sent decree entered into by the Commission be- 8 fore the effective date that concerns conduct al- 9 leged to violate the antitrust laws or unfair 10 methods of competition under section 5 of the 11 Federal Trade Commission Act (15 U.S.C. 45), 12 as in effect on the day before the effective date. 13 (5) AUTHORITY TO CONDUCT INVESTIGATIVE 14 STUDIES.— 15 (A) REPORTS OF PERSONS, PARTNER- 16 SHIPS, AND CORPORATIONS.— 17 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Department of 18 Justice may require, by general or special 19 orders, persons, partnerships, and corpora- 20 tions, engaged in or whose business affects 21 commerce to file with the Department in 22 such form as the Department may pre- 23 scribe annual or special reports or answers 24 in writing to specific questions, furnishing 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2926 IH to the Department such information as the 1 Department may require as to the organi- 2 zation, business, conduct, practices, man- 3 agement, and relation to other corpora- 4 tions, partnerships, and individuals of the 5 respective persons, partnerships, and cor- 6 porations filing such reports or answers in 7 writing. 8 (ii) OATH.—Reports and answers re- 9 quired under clause (i) shall— 10 (I) be made under oath or other- 11 wise as the Department may pre- 12 scribe; 13 (II) pertain solely to competition 14 or the application of the antitrust 15 laws; and 16 (III) be filed with the Depart- 17 ment within such reasonable period as 18 the Department may prescribe, unless 19 additional time be granted in any case 20 by the Department. 21 (B) PUBLICATION OF INFORMATION OR 22 REPORTS.— 23 (i) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 24 in clause (ii), the Department of Justice— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:59 Jun 19, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2926.IH H2926 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 2926 IH (I) shall make public from time 1 to time such portions of the informa- 2 tion obtained by the Department 3 under this paragraph as are in the 4 public interest; 5 (II) may make annual and spe- 6 cial reports to Congress that include 7 recommendations for additional legis- 8 lation; and 9 (III) shall provide for the publi- 10 cation of reports and decisions of the 11 Department in such form a [Text truncated for display. 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