A proposed law in Utah aims to protect people on the secondary ticketing market – both those purchasing tickets, and those selling extras. The bill, called the Consumer Ticket Protection Amendments has already passed the state’s House of Representatives and reportedly has strong support in the senate, where it passed out of the revenue and taxation committee unanimously earlier this week, according to KUTV.com.
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Brad Wilson and Sen. Deirdre M. Henderson, seeks to protect those on both ends of a secondary market transaction from abuse. Specifically, it
“Provides that a person may not issue a ticket to an event by a method that substantially prevents the purchaser from reselling the ticket on [a] website or by the method of the purchaser’s choice.”
and
“Prohibits a person from treating an individual differently because the individual resold a ticket to an event or purchased a resold ticket to an event on a particular website or by a particular method.”
In lay terms, that means it forbids venues or rights-holders from restricting resale through the use of methods like paperless tickets tied to the original purchaser’s credit card or any other hard to transfer ticket type. It also forbids the cancellation of tickets by venues or rights-holders strictly because a ticket has been re-sold.
Those found in violation of the proposed law would be subject to a fine of up to $2,500 per violation.
The full text of the bill is available at the Utah state legislature’s website.
According to KUTV.com. Sen. Henderson testified on Monday about a constituent who happened to have a few extra tickets to an upcoming performance of the wildly popular musical Hamilton that he wanted to sell online to make back some of his investment on the tickets he would be using. That investment, as anyone who has tried to see the show, can be substantial, regardless of what market one is purchasing on. Sen. Henderson argued that this legislation should pass to protect people like that constituent, so that they can be allowed to sell tickets they have legally purchased, or buy tickets to events through legal resale marketplaces without fear that the original vendor will cancel them for no reason other than their having been resold.
Similar laws protecting the rights for ticket resale and protecting consumers who purchase tickets through resale websites were passed last year in Connecticut and Virginia.
