Leadership / 07.02.18

Legislature Quietly Moves to Eliminate Law Intended to Protect Ticket Buyers

Access Staff

Original article published on Politico (07/02/18) by Matt Friedman

New Jersey's Senate and Assembly this week voted to pass a bill to repeal a 2001 law designed to protect ticket buyers by prohibiting anyone with access to event tickets prior to their general public release from withholding more than 5 percent of those tickets. In addition, the new bill mandates that ads for an event no longer must include the price of tickets or that the tickets themselves must display the price. A statute requiring entertainment venues to offer a method for season ticket holders to sell back tickets for events they cannot attend also would be struck down. Sen. Robert Singer (R-N.J.), a sponsor of the 2001 law, notes that practically every entertainment venue in the state pushed for the new measure. "Their claim is they could not attract top shows here because of the split," he says. "I always felt this made the bill, and I still believe, less consumer friendly." NJ Citizen Action's Phyllis Salowe-Kaye sees the measure protecting consumers in some, but not all, areas. "I question why...it's removed some really important consumer protections, like the 5 percent," she says "[And] for some unbelievable reason they're removing the face value on the ticket." Salowe-Kaye also cites the lack of any committee hearings before the vote, which means consumers were never offered an opportunity to weigh in on the legislation.

Read the full story on the Politico website.

Tags: Regulations , News