Bill Text: NY A08245 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relates to the sale of tickets to places of entertainment; establishes notice and disclosure requirements for the sale or resale of tickets.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-06-20 - substituted by s8501b [A08245 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-A08245-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          8245
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                      June 2, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  O'DONNELL  --  read once and referred to the
          Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development
        AN ACT to amend the arts and cultural affairs law, in  relation  to  the
          sale of tickets to places of entertainment
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1.  Section 25.07 of the arts  and  cultural  affairs  law  is
     2  amended by adding a new subdivision 1-a to read as follows:
     3    1-a.  Every operator of a place of entertainment shall make public the
     4  number of tickets to a place of entertainment  that  are  available  for
     5  purchase at all times while such tickets are available for purchase.
     6    §  2. Section 25.13 of the arts and cultural affairs law is amended by
     7  adding a new subdivision 2-a to read as follows:
     8    2-a. No operator of  a  place  of  entertainment,  licensee  or  other
     9  secondary  ticket  reseller  shall  sell  or resell any ticket that such
    10  operator, licensee or reseller does not own at the time of the offer  or
    11  sale of such ticket.
    12    § 3. Section 25.23 of the arts and cultural affairs law, as amended by
    13  chapter 106 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows:
    14    § 25.23. Posting  of  price  lists;  information to purchaser.   1. In
    15  every principal office or branch office, bureau, agency or sub-agency of
    16  any licensee under this article, there shall be conspicuously posted and
    17  at all times displayed  a  price  list  showing  the  established  price
    18  charged by the operator of the place of entertainment for which a ticket
    19  is being sold by such licensee, together with the price being charged by
    20  such  licensee for the resale of such ticket, so that all persons visit-
    21  ing such place may readily see the same.  The  licensee  shall  also  on
    22  request  furnish  each  purchaser of a ticket with a receipt showing the
    23  same information. Further, if the licensee conducts business through the
    24  use of the internet, the same price list,  or  hyperlink  to  the  same,
    25  shall  be  conspicuously displayed on the internet page on which tickets
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11767-04-7
        A. 8245                             2
     1  are accessed. In addition the licensee shall publish  in  a  conspicuous
     2  place, or hyperlink to on the internet a statement clearly detailing the
     3  required guarantees required by section 25.07 of this article.
     4    2.  Any  operator  or manager of a website or other electronic service
     5  that serves as a platform to facilitate resale, or resale by  way  of  a
     6  competitive  bidding  process, shall post a clear and conspicuous notice
     7  on such website that the website is for the secondary sale of a ticket.
     8    3. Any operator or manager of a website or  other  electronic  service
     9  that  serves  as  a platform to facilitate resale, or resale by way of a
    10  competitive bidding process, shall provide  on  such  platform  a  place
    11  where  licensees  and  other ticket resellers must post their license or
    12  certificate issued pursuant to this article, or a hyperlink that  allows
    13  for such posting.
    14    §  4. Section 25.24 of the arts and cultural affairs law is amended by
    15  adding a new subdivision 10 to read as follows:
    16    10. Any person, firm, corporation or other entity who  is  a  licensee
    17  under this article who is adjudicated guilty of the following acts shall
    18  lose  their license and will be barred from licensure under this article
    19  for a period of three years following such adjudication if  such  licen-
    20  see:  (a)  knowingly  utilized  ticket  purchasing  software in order to
    21  purchase tickets; (b) knowingly resold or offered  to  resell  a  ticket
    22  that  such  licensee knew was obtained using ticket purchasing software;
    23  or (c) intentionally  maintained  any  interest  in  or  maintained  any
    24  control of the operation of ticket purchasing software to purchase tick-
    25  ets.
    26    §  5. Section 25.25 of the arts and cultural affairs law is amended by
    27  adding a new subdivision 3 to read as follows:
    28    3. On a monthly basis, every licensee or other  ticket  reseller  that
    29  resells  tickets  or facilitates the resale of tickets or resale auction
    30  of tickets between independent parties by any and all means shall report
    31  to the operator of a place of entertainment from whom such tickets  were
    32  purchased  the difference between the face value of each ticket sold and
    33  the price received  for  each  resold  ticket.  The  price  differential
    34  between  the  face value of a ticket and the price for which such ticket
    35  is resold shall be used in the calculation of any residual payments  due
    36  to  artists  or  performers  under  any contracts entered into after the
    37  effective date of this subdivision. Any additional residual payments due
    38  and owing based on the price differential between the face  value  of  a
    39  ticket  and the resale price of such ticket shall be paid by such licen-
    40  see or other ticket reseller to such entity or entities that  are  obli-
    41  gated to make such residual payments.
    42    § 6. Section 25.29 of the arts and cultural affairs law, as amended by
    43  chapter  61 of the laws of 2007, subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 151
    44  of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as follows:
    45    § 25.29. Unlawful charges in connection with tickets. 1.  No  operator
    46  of  any  place  of  entertainment,  or his or her agent, representative,
    47  employee or licensee shall, if a price be charged for admission thereto,
    48  exact, demand, accept or receive, directly or indirectly, any premium or
    49  price in excess of the  established  price  plus  lawful  taxes  whether
    50  designated as price, gratuity or otherwise; provided, however: (a) noth-
    51  ing  in this article shall be construed to prohibit a reasonable service
    52  charge by the operator or agents of the operator for  special  services,
    53  including  but  not  limited  to, sales away from the box office, credit
    54  card sales or delivery;  and  (b)  nothing  in  this  article  shall  be
    55  construed to prohibit an operator or its agent from offering for initial
    56  sale tickets by means of an auction.
        A. 8245                             3
     1    2.  In any advertisement or promotion of a ticket to a place of enter-
     2  tainment, including online advertising, the total price  of  the  ticket
     3  and  the portion of the ticket price stated in dollars that represents a
     4  service charge, or any other fee surcharge shall be clearly and conspic-
     5  uously disclosed.
     6    3.  In  any  prosecution under this section the attorney general shall
     7  have concurrent jurisdiction with any district attorney and in any  such
     8  prosecution he or she or his or her deputy shall exercise all the powers
     9  and  perform  all the duties which the district attorney would otherwise
    10  be authorized to exercise or perform therein.
    11    § 7. Paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 of section 25.30 of the  arts  and
    12  cultural  affairs  law,  as added by chapter 151 of the laws of 2010, is
    13  amended to read as follows:
    14    (c) employ a paperless ticketing system forty-eight hours after  tick-
    15  ets have been on sale to the general public as provided in paragraph (d)
    16  of  subdivision  one of section 25.30 of this article; after such forty-
    17  eight hour period, no operator of a place of entertainment or its  agent
    18  shall  employ  a paperless ticketing system unless the consumer is given
    19  an option to purchase paperless tickets that the consumer  can  transfer
    20  at  any price, and at any time, and without additional fees, independent
    21  of the operator or operator's agent. Notwithstanding the  foregoing,  an
    22  operator  or  operator's  agent  may employ a paperless ticketing system
    23  that does not allow for independent transferability of paperless tickets
    24  only if the consumer is offered an option at the time of initial sale to
    25  purchase the same tickets in some other form that is transferable  inde-
    26  pendent  of  the operator or operator's agent including, but not limited
    27  to, paper tickets or e-tickets. The  established  price  for  any  given
    28  ticket  shall  be  the same regardless of the form or transferability of
    29  such ticket. The ability for a ticket to be transferred  independent  of
    30  the  operator or operator's agent shall not constitute a special service
    31  for the purpose of imposing a service charge pursuant to  section  25.29
    32  of this article.
    33    §  8.  Subdivision 1 of section 25.30 of the arts and cultural affairs
    34  law is amended by adding a new paragraph (d) to read as follows:
    35    (d) resell any ticket to a licensee or other  ticket  reseller  during
    36  the  first  forty-eight  hours  after such ticket is first available for
    37  primary sale  to  the  general  public;  provided,  however,  that  such
    38  restriction  shall  not  apply to season tickets or other bundled series
    39  tickets.
    40    § 9. Section 25.30 of the arts and cultural affairs law is amended  by
    41  adding a new subdivision 5 to read as follows:
    42    5.  No  operator  or  its  agent  shall  transfer a prospective ticket
    43  purchaser through any means to a licensee or secondary  ticket  reseller
    44  without  providing  a  clear and conspicuous disclosure that informs the
    45  prospective purchaser that the ticket is not being offered by the opera-
    46  tor or its agent, but rather by a licensee or other ticket  reseller  in
    47  the secondary market.
    48    §  10.  This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, the
    49  amendments to article 25 of the arts and cultural affairs  law  made  by
    50  sections  one,  two, three, five, six, seven, eight and nine of this act
    51  shall not affect the repeal of such article and shall be deemed repealed
    52  therewith.