Nearly a dozen associations and organizations representing New York small businesses delivered a memo to New York Assembly Members urging them to pass the Twenty-First Century Antitrust Act this legislative session.
Op-Ed: NY Antitrust Legislation Would Help Small Businesses Hurt by Monopolies
New York has a monopoly problem. Across the state, independent businesses are being harmed by the outsized political and economic power amassed by a few large corporations.
In Crain’s New York Business, Katy Milani and Sue Warfield explain that the proposed 21st Century Antitrust Act would level the playing field for small businesses.
Small Business Rising Coalition Members' Statement on New Anticompetitive Mergers Act
Today, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Mondaire Jones (NY-17) introduced the Prohibiting Anticompetitive Mergers Act of 2022. This legislation would prohibit mega-mergers in the United States, and allow the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) to review and undo past mergers if they do not meet the new standard.
Teresa Dickinson Speaks at the FTC Open Meeting on Anticompetitive Practices from Pharmacy Benefit Managers
Teresa Dickinson, Small Business Rising member, speaks at the Federal Trade Commission Open Meeting about how unfair business practices from pharmacy benefit managers (PBM's) have impacted her independent pharmacy. Watch the video below, or here.
Gina Schaefer Speaks at The Open Markets Institute on Antimonopoly Reform
Gina Schaefer, Small Business Rising Member, speaks at a conference series hosted by The Open Markets Institute on Busting the Big Myths of Antimonopoly Reform. She discusses how Amazon has increasingly controlled the supply chain, how the giant tracks people's data to use to their advantage, and how a more competitive market would allow small businesses to thrive.
Statement from Coalition Representing More Than 150,000 Small Businesses on Amazon’s Possible Criminal Obstruction of Congress
The following statement was issued today by Small Business Rising, a coalition of nearly thirty national and local associations representing over 150,000 small and independent businesses, in response to a letter from Members of the House Judiciary Committee urging the U.S. Justice Department to investigate potentially criminal conduct by Amazon and its senior executives.
"We applaud the House Judiciary Committee Members for their leadership and commitment to addressing Amazon’s growing monopoly power and commend the Committee for its letter urging the U.S. Justice Department to investigate potentially criminal conduct by Amazon and its senior executives.
Small Business Rising Member Calls for NY Antitrust Action
Natasha Amott, member of Small Business Rising and owner of Whisk, a kitchen store in Brooklyn, wrote the following op-ed in the New York Daily News. Amott calls on New York state legislators to support the 21st Century Antitrust Act, which would strengthen the state’s antimonopoly enforcement and help create a level playing field for small businesses.
Podcast Highlight: Dismantling the Oppression Economy and Building a Liberation Economy
Last year, Liberation in a Generation released a report titled “Antimonopoly Activism: Reclaiming Power through Racial Justice”, focusing on how corporate concentration impacts people of color and how racial justice is a key component in antitrust reform. Small Business Rising founding member ILSR highlighted a conversation with LibGen co-founders and co-executive directors , Jeremie Greer and Solana Rice, on working to dismantle the current oppression economy.
Jeremie Greer states that “The way to address all of this is that we have to put more political power in the hands of people of color so they can influence the governmental structures.”
Listen to the Building Local Power Miniseries Episode below:
Statement from Coalition Representing More Than 150,000 Small Businesses on the American Innovation and Choice Online Act
Today, the American Innovation and Choice Online Act, introduced by Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Chuck Grassley, with 12 bipartisan co-sponsors, passed out of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary by a vote of 16-6.
In response, Small Business Rising released the following statement:
“We applaud the Committee for voting to send this crucial legislation to the full Senate, and we commend Senators Klobuchar and Grassley, and their bipartisan coalition of co-sponsors, for introducing this bill and fighting for it.
“We believe this legislation, aimed at eliminating the dangerous self-preferencing and discrimination of the Big Tech monopolies, is a critical first step in reining in their outsized power.
“Concentrated market power is the single biggest threat facing independent, small businesses. America’s small businesses are the backbone of our local economies and our local communities — and, yet, every day we lose more independent businesses because of the abusive and anti-competitive tactics of monopolistic corporations like Amazon.
“We look forward to working with the bill’s co-sponsors, and the rest of the Senate, to further strengthen this landmark legislation and ensure its passage. And we look forward to working with lawmakers in the Senate to introduce and enact additional measures, including structural separation legislation, to remove the underlying conflicts of interest that give rise to the tech giants’ anti-competitive behavior in the first place.”
Who We Are: Small Business Rising is a coalition of nearly 30 small business organizations representing over 150,000 independent businesses. The coalition formed in 2021 to advance anti-monopoly policies and safeguard the ability of small businesses to compete and serve the needs of their communities.
