Bill Text: TX HB3477 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to restrictions on event ticket sales.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-04-22 - Committee report sent to Calendars [HB3477 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-HB3477-Introduced.html
| 84R3634 YDB-F | ||
| By: Goldman | H.B. No. 3477 | |
|
|
||
|
|
||
| relating to restrictions on event ticket sales. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Subtitle D, Title 13, Occupations Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Chapter 2158 to read as follows: | ||
| CHAPTER 2158. SALE AND RESALE OF EVENT TICKETS | ||
| Sec. 2158.001. DEFINITIONS. In this chapter: | ||
| (1) "Event" means a concert, theatrical performance, | ||
| sporting event, exhibition, show, or similar scheduled activity | ||
| that: | ||
| (A) is open to the general public; | ||
| (B) is held in a public or private venue; and | ||
| (C) requires payment of an admission fee to | ||
| attend the activity. | ||
| (2) "Event ticket" means any physical or electronic | ||
| certificate, document, voucher, token, or other evidence of a right | ||
| to enter an event, an entitlement to purchase a right to enter an | ||
| event, or a right to occupy a specified seat at an event. | ||
| (3) "Resale" means any form of transfer of possession | ||
| or an offer of transfer of possession, including an offer of | ||
| transfer of the entitlement to possession, of an event ticket, made | ||
| by any means from a person other than the ticket issuer. | ||
| (4) "Resale ticket agent" means a person who directly | ||
| or indirectly makes event tickets available for resale to the | ||
| general public. | ||
| (5) "Ticket issuer" means a person who directly or | ||
| indirectly makes event tickets available for sale to the general | ||
| public. | ||
| Sec. 2158.002. RESTRICTIONS. (a) A person may not sell, | ||
| use, or cause to be used any method, technology, device, or software | ||
| in the sale or resale of event tickets on a ticket issuer's or | ||
| resale ticket agent's Internet website that: | ||
| (1) functions as a bypass in the ticket purchasing | ||
| process; | ||
| (2) disguises the identity of the ticket purchaser; | ||
| (3) permits the purchase of a quantity of event | ||
| tickets in a number that exceeds the maximum number of tickets that | ||
| may be sold to one purchaser as specified by the event owner or | ||
| operator on the website; or | ||
| (4) circumvents a security measure, access control | ||
| system, or other control, authorization, or measure in the ticket | ||
| purchasing process. | ||
| (b) A person may not decode, decrypt, modify, or reverse | ||
| engineer any event ticket or an underlying algorithm or barcode | ||
| used in the ticket's production or on any Internet website in the | ||
| sale or resale of the ticket. | ||
| Sec. 2158.003. ATTORNEY GENERAL POWERS; CIVIL ACTION. (a) | ||
| The attorney general may: | ||
| (1) investigate a claim made by any person that a | ||
| person violated this chapter; | ||
| (2) bring an action in district court to enjoin a | ||
| person from violating this chapter; | ||
| (3) sue for money damages on behalf of a ticket issuer | ||
| or resale ticket agent who is a resident of this state and is | ||
| injured by a violation of this chapter; or | ||
| (4) recover reasonable expenses incurred in obtaining | ||
| injunctive or civil relief under this section. | ||
| (b) If the ticket issuer or resale ticket agent prevails in | ||
| a suit under this section, the ticket issuer or resale ticket agent | ||
| may recover court costs, attorney's fees, expenses, and actual | ||
| damages. | ||
| SECTION 2. Chapter 2158, Occupations Code, as added by this | ||
| Act, applies to the purchase of an event ticket for an event subject | ||
| to that chapter that occurs on or after September 1, 2015, | ||
| regardless of whether any event tickets were issued before that | ||
| date. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015. | ||
