AB 8: Ticket sellers.

Session Year: 2023-2024
House: Assembly

Current Status:

Failed

(2024-08-15: In committee: Held under submission.)

Introduced

First Committee Review

First Chamber

Second Committee Review

Second Chamber

Enacted

Version:

Existing law provides comprehensive regulation of ticket sellers and makes violations of those provisions a misdemeanor. Existing law imposes various refund requirements on a ticket seller, including a requirement to issue a refund upon request to a ticket purchaser for canceled, postponed, or rescheduled events. Existing law also imposes various disclosure requirements on a ticket seller, including a requirement to disclose to a purchaser the location of the seat represented by the ticket, as specified.

This bill would revise and recast those provisions by expanding the definition of a ticket seller to include a primary contractor or platform, as defined, and would instead apply the refund requirement relating to the postponement or rescheduling of an event only to primary contractors. The bill would impose various disclosure requirements on ticket sellers relating to ticket price, including that the ticket seller would be required to display the total cost and fees for a ticket prior to the ticket being selected for purchase. prohibited from advertising, displaying, or offering a price for a ticket that does not include all fees or charges that must be paid in order to purchase the ticket other than taxes or fees imposed by a government on the transaction. The bill would prohibit the resale of tickets that were initially offered at no charge and that were knowingly obtained using software or services that circumvent controls or measures that ensure an equitable ticket buying process for event attendees, and would require a ticket seller to provide printed tickets for a cellular phone-free telephone-free event, as defined, at the same price that a mobile or electronic ticket is sold. The bill would impose various requirements on a primary contractor relating to the resale of tickets, including prohibiting a primary contractor from restricting the resale of tickets.

Existing law, the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (CPRA), approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, imposing various obligations on businesses with respect to personal information, as defined. The CPRA requires a business to inform consumers of the categories of personal information to be collected and the purposes for which the categories of personal information are collected or used and whether that information is sold or shared.This bill would prohibit a primary contractor from using personally identifiable information except to the extent necessary to facilitate a request to transfer a ticket from a purchaser to a resale buyer and to market a ticket sellers products or services to a resale buyer, as specified.The CPRA authorizes the Legislature to amend the act to further the purposes and intent of the act by a majority vote of both houses of the Legislature, as specified.This bill would declare that its provisions further the purposes and intent of the CPRA.

By expanding the scope of existing provisions regulating ticket sellers and imposing new requirements on ticket sellers and primary contractors, the violation of which would be a 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.

Discussed in Hearing