A bill to let state attorneys general pick which courts hear their antitrust cases advanced out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday with broad bipartisan support, but some senators raised concerns about the retroactive portions in the bill.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act<\/a>\u00a0is a companion bill to a proposal that advanced out of committee in the House earlier this year along with a series of antitrust proposals.<\/p>\n Bipartisan support:\u00a0<\/strong>The bill\u2019s sponsors, top antitrust subcommittee Sens.\u00a0Amy Klobuchar<\/a>\u00a0(D-Minn.) and\u00a0Mike Lee<\/a>\u00a0(R-Utah.), said it would prevent state antitrust cases from being moved to courts preferred by defendants and consolidated with private suits.<\/p>\n \u201cThis bill would simply strengthen effective enforcement of our antitrust laws,\u201d Klobuchar said.<\/p>\n The bill advanced by a voice vote. Although the main proposal in the bill had broad support from committee members, a handful of senators highlighted concerns about the bill being able to be applied retroactively.<\/p>\n