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Breaking: Ticket Resale Law Updates Passed in New York Legislature
BroadwayIndustryTop Story
June 20, 2018
TicketNews
New York ticket resale law updates passed both the Senate and Assembly on Wednesday afternoon, moving through to the office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo for signing. The bill passed the Senate first, coming through at a 52-8 margin. It passed the Assembly by a 105-1 margin. It is widely expected that Cuomo will sign the bill, which will be valid for three years.
Those who voted against the updates included Senator Liz Krueger (D-28), the ranking democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, who spoke out against the failure to include recommended requirements for added transparency related to how many tickets are available to the general public vs. held back for industry insiders or to create scarcity and prop up prices.
We will be following up with some analysis following a bit of time to digest the language of the new law in the Empire State. For now, the entirety of the bill is included below. It can also be accessed at the New York at legislation.nysenate.gov.
The existing cultural affairs law amended by the below text can be found here.
(Apologies for the messy formatting – we’re working on cleaning up)
Introduced by Sen. MURPHY — read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Investigations and Government Operations — committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee — committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee.
AN ACT to amend the arts and cultural affairs law, in relation to the sale of tickets to places of entertainment; to amend chapter 704 of the laws of 1991, amending the arts and cultural affairs law and chapter 912 of the laws of 1920 relating to the regulation of boxing and wrestling matches relating to tickets to places of entertainment; and chapter 151 of the laws of 2010, amending the arts and cultural affairs law relating to resale of tickets to places of entertainment, in relation to extending the effectiveness of the provisions thereof
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEMBLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1.
The arts and cultural affairs law is amended by adding a new section 25.10 to read as follows:
S 25.10. Ticket resale requirements.
(a) such licensee or other ticket reseller has the offered ticket in its possession;
(b) such licensee or other ticket reseller has a written contract to obtain the offered ticket at a certain price from a person in possession of the ticket or from a person who has a contractual right to obtain such ticket; or
(c) such licensee or other ticket reseller informs the purchaser in a clear and conspicuous manner and in plain language at the time of offering such ticket for sale and in a written notice prior to the completion of the transaction that such licensee or other ticket reseller does not have possession of the ticket, has no contract to obtain the offered ticket at a certain price from a person in possession of the ticket or from a person who has a contractual right to obtain such ticket, may not be able to supply the ticket at the contracted price or range of prices, and requires such purchaser to expressly confirm prior to completing the transaction that the purchaser has read such notice.
Section 25.19 of the arts and cultural affairs law, as amended by 29 chapter 61 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows:
30 S 25.19. Posting of license or certificate.
Immediately upon the receipt of the license or certificate issued pursuant to this article by the secretary of state, the licensee named therein shall cause such license to be posted and at all times displayed in a conspicuous place in the principal office of such business for which it is issued, and shall cause the certificate for each branch office, bureau, agency or sub-agency to be posted and at all times displayed in a conspicuous place in such branch office, bureau, agency or sub-agency for which it is issued, so that all persons visiting such principal office, branch office, bureau, agency or sub-agency may readily see the same, and if such licensee does business on the internet, INCLUDING VIA A RETAIL TICKET PURCHASING PLATFORM, to provide a LICENSE NUMBER DISPLAYED IN A CONSPICUOUS MANNER OR A hyperlink displayed in a conspicuous manner to a scanned copy of such license. Such license or certificate shall at all reasonable times be subject to inspection by the secretary of state or his or her authorized inspectors. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, partnership or corporation holding such license or certificate to post such license or certificate or to permit such certificate to be posted upon premises other than those described therein or to which it has been transferred pursuant to the provisions of this article or unlawfully to alter, deface or destroy any such license or certificate.
For purposes of this section, the term “retail ticket purchasing platform” shall mean a retail ticket purchasing website, application, phone system, or other technology platform used to sell tickets.
Section 25.23 of the arts and cultural affairs law, as amended by chapter 106 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows:
1 S 25.23. Posting of price lists; information to purchaser.
Section 25.24 of the arts and cultural affairs law is amended by adding a new subdivision 10 to read as follows:
(A) knowingly utilized ticket purchasing software in order to purchase tickets;
(b) knowingly resold or offered to resell a ticket that such licensee knew was obtained using ticket purchasing software; or
(c) intentionally maintained any interest in or maintained any control of the operation of ticket purchasing software to purchase tickets.
Section 25.07 of the arts and cultural affairs law is amended by adding a new subdivision 4 to read as follows:
The arts and cultural affairs law is amended by adding a new section 25.12 to read as follows:
S 25.12. Professional sports organization membership pass.
Notwithstanding section 25.30 of this article, an operator of a place of entertainment or such operator’s agent may offer paperless tickets which do not allow for independent transferability provided that such tickets are included in a membership pass at a discounted price offered by a professional sports organization for seating in venues or stadiums with a fixed capacity of over thirty thousand seats that guarantees entry to a specified number of events in a specified time period with seat assignments assigned no more than four hours prior to the commencement of the event and such seat assignment must be variable from game to game and not intended for season ticket holders. Tickets provided under such membership pass may be restricted from being transferred or resold, including through the operator or operators’ agents, and must be clearly marked as such prior to initial offering or sale. Such membership pass shall not mean a subscription or season ticket package offered for sale AND SHALL NOT RESULT IN THE SALE OF MORE THAN FIVE PERCENT OF THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF ALL SEATS THAT WILL BE MADE AVAILABLE AT A VENUE FOR A PARTICULAR EVENT TO BE SOLD UNDER THIS SECTION.
Section 25.30 of the arts and cultural affairs law is amended by adding a new subdivision 5 to read as follows:
20 S 8. The arts and cultural affairs law is amended by adding a new section 25.34 to read as follows:
25.34. Ticket websites.
(i) the name of the place of entertainment, provided that this paragraph shall not preclude the use of general terms to depict a geographical location or venue category;
(ii) the name of the specific event, including the name of a person or entity scheduled to perform or appear at the event; or
(iii) a name substantially similar to those in subparagraph (i) or (ii) of this paragraph.
(b) paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall not apply if the person is acting on behalf of, and with the consent of, the place of entertainment, event, artist or sports team for which the website is being created.
Section 11 of chapter 151 of the laws of 2010, amending the arts and cultural affairs law relating to resale of tickets to places of entertainment, as amended by chapter 68 of the laws of 2017, is amended to read as follows:
(a) sections one, two, three, four, five, seven and eight of this act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have become a law; and
(b) the amendments to article 25 of the arts and cultural affairs law made by sections one, two, three, five, six, seven and eight of this act shall not affect the repeal of such article and shall be deemed repealed therewith.
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Breaking: Ticket Resale Law Updates Passed in New York Legislature