Bill Text: TX HB3477 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to restrictions on event ticket sales.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
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 |
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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. |