In the News

Mass. House Passes New Ticket Bill
Non-profit Exemption Approved

October 3, 2007

Dear Friends,

Yesterday (October 2), the Massachusetts House of Representatives approved a bill to regulate the resale of tickets (sometimes called scalping) and to allow tickets to be resold at any price.

MAASH has been working with the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Consumer protection and Professional Licensure—Senator Michael Morrissey and Rep. Michael Rodrigues—to protect the interests of non-profit cultural organizations. The bill as passed exempts non-profit organizations from the bill’s requirements. Earlier drafts of the bill did not exempt non-profits and could have required non-profit cultural venues selling tickets to post a bond of $100,000 and maintain extensive ticket records.

On behalf of the cultural community across the state, MAASH thanks Chairmen Morrissey and Rodrigues for their leadership in recognizing the distinctive nature of our non-profit performing arts organizations.

The bill now moves to the Senate. A summary of the bill as passed is below.

MAASH will keep you posted on the progress of the bill. For more information, please e-mail me at dhunter@maash.org.

The ticket bill is designed to simplify existing laws on the resale of sports, concert and other event tickets while giving broad new protections to consumers victimized by counterfeiters and frauds. The legislation requires professional ticket agencies and sellers to register with the Executive Office of Public Safety and to wear identification prominently when selling tickets. The sellers must pay a $1,000 fee, post a $100,000 bond and provide receipts at the time of sale that identify the seller. Sellers are required to grant refunds of the ticket sold is counterfeit or in any way does not grant admission to the event, if the event is cancelled or is not as advertised. The bill allows resellers to set prices on the open market and allows the resale of tickets on the Internet sites. In addition, this legislation would give venues the option to establish a ticket resale area within the property line of the venue. If established, any person wishing to resell tickets would be required to operate only within the designated area. The resale area would create a space for consumers to purchase tickets and thereby prevent sales from elsewhere around their property by creating a no-sale zone of 2,500 square feet around large facilities and of 1,000 square feet around smaller facilities.

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