Matt Haney

Existing law provides for the comprehensive regulation of ticket sellers, including a requirement to maintain records of ticket sales, deposits, and refunds. For purposes of these provisions, existing law defines a ticket seller as any person who, for compensation, commission, or otherwise, sells admission tickets to an event, and defines a primary contractor as the person or organization who is responsible for the event for which tickets are being sold. Existing law makes it unlawful for a ticket seller to represent that they can deliver or cause to be delivered a ticket at a specific price or within a specific price range and to fail to deliver within a reasonable time or by a contracted time the tickets at or below the price stated or within the range of prices stated. Existing law requires a ticket seller to disclose that a service charge is imposed by the ticket seller and is added to the actual ticket price by the seller in any advertisement or promotion for any event by the ticket seller. Existing law makes a violation of the laws regulating ticket sellers a misdemeanor.

Existing law, with specified exceptions, makes unlawful advertising, displaying, or offering a price for a good or service that does not include all mandatory fees or charges other than taxes or fees imposed by a government on the transaction, as specified.

This bill, except as specified, would prohibit a ticket reseller, as defined, from selling a ticket for more than the equivalent of the original price for the ticket plus 10%, as specified, and would also prohibit a ticket reseller from advertising, displaying, or offering a price for a ticket that does not include all mandatory fees or charges. The bill would prohibit a ticket resale marketplace, as defined, from charging more than 10% of the original face value of the ticket, as specified, and would require a ticket resale marketplace to require the ticket reseller to disclose the original price of the ticket, as described. The bill would require an original seller, as defined, to print or display on a ticket the original purchase price of that ticket. The bill would limit these provisions to the resale of tickets where the event is held at an independent venue, as specified. Because the bill would create new crimes, it would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would make an original seller, ticket reseller, or ticket resale marketplace that violates these provisions subject to specified civil penalties and would authorize the Attorney General, county counsel, or city attorney to assess and recover those penalties in a civil action. By expanding the scope of an existing crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.