Momentum is building in Washington to crack down on fraud occurring in ticket sales. IAVM continues to work side-by-side with others in the live events industry, including artist groups and independent venues within the Fix the Tix Coalition to pass federal ticketing reforms.
In September, IAVM member, Dave Touhey, CVE, testified before Congress, urging passage of legislation to address ticket fraud. He advocated for Congress to require all-in pricing, a ban on deceptive URLs and websites, and a prohibition against the sale of speculative, or fake, tickets. After months of intense lobbying, on December 6, legislation was reported out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee to accomplish all three of these goals. H.R. 3950, the “TICKET Act,” a bill to require disclosure of ticket fees, was combined with H.R. 6568, the “Speculative Ticketing Oversight and Prohibition Act” or the “STOP Act,” and passed the committee on a 45 to 0 recorded vote.
The amended H.R. 3950 is cosponsored by Representatives Bilirakis (R-FL), Schakowsky (D-IL) and Armstrong (R-ND) and would:
- Require the total price of an event ticket be displayed upfront, inclusive of all fees;
- Ban the sale of a ticket that a seller does not have (“speculative ticketing”);
- Guarantee refunds for event cancelations and postponements;
- Require clear disclosures and bans deceptive URLS to protect consumers from fraudulent ticketing websites;
- Require the Federal Trade Commission to study and report on enforcement of the BOTS Act (Public Law 114-274).
Now all of us need to work to ensure that the bill is taken up by the full House of Representatives ASAP. We ask all IAVM members to contact your Representative THIS WEEK to urge him or her to cosponsor H.R. 3950, the “TICKET Act” as amended in Committee. You can download a current database of Representative contacts here.
But that’s not all…
On Thursday, the S. 3457, the Fans First Act was introduced in the Senate by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Cornyn (R-TX), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Roger Wicker (R-MS) and Peter Welch (D-VT). This comprehensive ticketing bill was negotiated by the Fix the Tix Coalition and has been blessed by consumer groups. While it has a long way to go to passage, building the cosponsor list will help convince the Senate Commerce Committee to take it up. To date, the Commerce Committee reported out a version of the Ticket Act which required fee disclosure only. Ticketing problems will not go away until speculative tickets and deceptive URLs and websites are banned, which the Fans First Act would do. That’s why we are asking IAVM members to reach out to your Senators THIS WEEK to urge them to cosponsor the S. 3457, the Fans First Act. You can download a current database of Senate contacts here.
Please see the sample letters here. One is to send to your U.S. Senators and the other to your Representative in the House. This is the beginning stage of this process. We’ll need you to reach out to Congress again pending floor consideration in both chambers. In the meantime, it is imperative that we build the cosponsor list for both the House and Senate bills. Please add any personal stories about how your venue is affected by fraud in ticket sales.
Ticket resellers have been working hard at the state level to pass bills to protect their predatory practices. A federal solution will stop these state efforts and go a long way to protect consumers from ticket fraud. Thanks for your advocacy on this important issue.
