Can a district attorney of a county bring an antitrust action under the state Cartwright Act?

We disagree. Subdivisions (a) and (b) of section 16750 authorize counties to bring antitrust actions under the Cartwright Act; they do not, however, [16 Cal.4th 1156] authorize a district attorney to bring such actions on behalf of the counties, cities and other political subdivisions within the district attorney's county. Thus, if subdivision (g) of section 16750 did not exist, a district attorney of a county would be unable to bring civil actions for antitrust violations of the state Cartwright Act on behalf of these entities. (See generally, Safer v. Superior Court (1975) 15 Cal.3d 230, 235-237, 124 Cal.Rptr. 174, 540 P.2d 14.) Therefore, subdivision (g), which authorizes the district attorney to bring such actions, is not rendered meaningless by our conclusion that counties have the power, under subdivisions (a) and (b), to bring an antitrust action under the Cartwright Act.