STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8245--B 2017-2018 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY June 2, 2017 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. O'DONNELL, FAHY -- read once and referred to the Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development -- reported and referred to the Committee on Codes -- recommitted to the Committee on Codes in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee -- again reported from said committee with amend- ments, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the arts and cultural affairs law, in relation to the sale of tickets to places of entertainment; to amend chapter 704 of the laws of 1991, amending the arts and cultural affairs law and chap- ter 912 of the laws of 1920 relating to the regulation of boxing and wrestling matches relating to tickets to places of entertainment; and chapter 151 of the laws of 2010, amending the arts and cultural affairs law relating to resale of tickets to places of entertainment, in relation to extending the effectiveness of the provisions thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The arts and cultural affairs law is amended by adding a 2 new section 25.10 to read as follows: 3 § 25.10. Ticket resale requirements. 1. It shall be unlawful for a 4 licensee or other ticket reseller to contract for the sale of tickets or 5 accept consideration for payment in full or for a deposit for the sale 6 of tickets unless such licensee or other ticket reseller meets one or 7 more of the following requirements: 8 (a) such licensee or other ticket reseller has the ticket in its 9 possession; 10 (b) such licensee or other ticket reseller has a written contract to 11 obtain the offered ticket at a certain price from a person in possession 12 of the ticket or from a person who has a contractual right to obtain 13 such ticket; or EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD11767-15-8
A. 8245--B 2 1 (c) such licensee or other ticket reseller informs the purchaser in a 2 clear and conspicuous manner and in plain language at the time of offer- 3 ing such ticket for sale and in a written notice prior to the completion 4 of the transaction that such licensee or other ticket reseller does not 5 have possession of the ticket, has no contract to obtain the offered 6 ticket at a certain price from a person in possession of the ticket or 7 from a person who has a contractual right to obtain such ticket, may not 8 be able to supply the ticket at the contracted price or range of prices, 9 and requires such purchaser to expressly confirm prior to completing the 10 transaction that the purchaser has read such notice. 11 2. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a licensee or other ticket 12 reseller from accepting a deposit from a prospective purchaser for a 13 resale pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision one of this section, 14 provided that such licensee or other ticket reseller informs the 15 purchaser in writing prior to receipt of consideration of the terms of 16 the deposit agreement, and includes in the written notice the disclo- 17 sures otherwise required by this section. If a licensee or ticket 18 reseller has entered into a contract with or received consideration from 19 a prospective purchaser for the sale of a ticket or tickets and cannot 20 supply such ticket or tickets at the contracted price or price range, 21 such licensee or ticket reseller shall refund any monies paid by such 22 prospective purchaser within ten business days of receipt of a request 23 for a refund from such purchaser. 24 3. Nothing in this section shall be construed to nullify, expand, 25 restrict, or otherwise amend or modify now existing laws or regulations 26 outside of this article, and nothing in this section shall be construed 27 as making lawful any fraudulent, deceptive, or illegal act or practice 28 that is unlawful pursuant to now existing laws or regulations. 29 4. The attorney general shall have jurisdiction to enforce the 30 provisions of this section in accordance with the powers granted to him 31 or her by section sixty-three of the executive law. 32 § 2. Section 25.19 of the arts and cultural affairs law, as amended by 33 chapter 61 of the laws of 2007, is amended to read as follows: 34 § 25.19. Posting of license or certificate. Immediately upon the 35 receipt of the license or certificate issued pursuant to this article by 36 the secretary of state, the licensee named therein shall cause such 37 license to be posted and at all times displayed in a conspicuous place 38 in the principal office of such business for which it is issued, and 39 shall cause the certificate for each branch office, bureau, agency or 40 sub-agency to be posted and at all times displayed in a conspicuous 41 place in such branch office, bureau, agency or sub-agency for which it 42 is issued, so that all persons visiting such principal office, branch 43 office, bureau, agency or sub-agency may readily see the same, and if 44 such licensee does business on the internet, including via a retail 45 ticket purchasing platform, to provide a license number displayed in a 46 conspicuous manner or a hyperlink displayed in a conspicuous manner to a 47 scanned copy of such license. Such license or certificate shall at all 48 reasonable times be subject to inspection by the secretary of state or 49 his or her authorized inspectors. It shall be unlawful for any person, 50 firm, partnership or corporation holding such license or certificate to 51 post such license or certificate or to permit such certificate to be 52 posted upon premises other than those described therein or to which it 53 has been transferred pursuant to the provisions of this article or 54 unlawfully to alter, deface or destroy any such license or certificate. 55 For purposes of this section, the term "retail ticket purchasing plat-
A. 8245--B 3 1 form" shall mean a retail ticket purchasing website, application, phone 2 system, or other technology platform used to sell tickets. 3 § 3. Section 25.23 of the arts and cultural affairs law, as amended by 4 chapter 106 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows: 5 § 25.23. Posting of price lists; information to purchaser. 1. In 6 every principal office or branch office, bureau, agency or sub-agency of 7 any licensee under this article, there shall be conspicuously posted and 8 at all times displayed a price list showing the established price 9 charged by the operator of the place of entertainment for which a ticket 10 is being sold by such licensee, together with the price being charged by 11 such licensee for the resale of such ticket, so that all persons visit- 12 ing such place may readily see the same. The licensee shall also on 13 request furnish each purchaser of a ticket with a receipt showing the 14 same information. Further, if the licensee conducts business through the 15 use of the internet, the same price list, or hyperlink to the same, 16 shall be conspicuously displayed on the internet page on which tickets 17 are accessed. In addition the licensee shall publish in a conspicuous 18 place, or hyperlink to on the internet a statement clearly detailing the 19 required guarantees required by section 25.07 of this article. 20 2. An online resale marketplace shall post a clear and conspicuous 21 notice on the website that the website is for the secondary sale of a 22 ticket, that the price of such ticket offered for sale may exceed the 23 established price and shall also state the refund policy of the platform 24 in connection with the cancellation or postponement of an event. An 25 online resale marketplace shall require that the user confirm having 26 read such notice before completing any transaction. For the purposes of 27 this section, an "online resale marketplace" means any operator or 28 manager of a website or other electronic service that resells tickets or 29 serves as a platform to facilitate resale, or resale by way of a compet- 30 itive bidding process. 31 § 4. Section 25.24 of the arts and cultural affairs law is amended by 32 adding a new subdivision 10 to read as follows: 33 10. Any person, firm, corporation or other entity who is a licensee 34 under this article who is adjudicated guilty of the following acts may 35 lose their license and may be barred from licensure under this article 36 for a period not to exceed three years to be determined by the depart- 37 ment of state pursuant to section 25.31 of this article if such licen- 38 see: (a) knowingly utilized ticket purchasing software in order to 39 purchase tickets; (b) knowingly resold or offered to resell a ticket 40 that such licensee knew was obtained using ticket purchasing software; 41 or (c) intentionally maintained any interest in or maintained any 42 control of the operation of ticket purchasing software to purchase tick- 43 ets. 44 § 5. Section 25.07 of the arts and cultural affairs law is amended by 45 adding a new subdivision 4 to read as follows: 46 4. Every operator or operator's agent of a place of entertainment, any 47 licensee or other ticket reseller or platform that facilitates the 48 resale of tickets shall disclose in a clear and conspicuous manner the 49 total price of the ticket and the portion of the ticket price stated in 50 dollars that represents a service charge, or any other fee or surcharge 51 prior to accepting payment therefor. 52 § 6. The arts and cultural affairs law is amended by adding a new 53 section 25.12 to read as follows: 54 § 25.12. Professional sports organization membership pass. Notwith- 55 standing section 25.30 of this article, an operator of a place of enter- 56 tainment or such operator's agent may offer paperless tickets which do
A. 8245--B 4 1 not allow for independent transferability provided that such tickets are 2 included in a membership pass at a discounted price offered by a profes- 3 sional sports organization that guarantees entry to a specified number 4 of events in a specified time period. Tickets provided under such 5 membership pass cannot be transferred or resold, including through the 6 operator or operators' agents, and must be clearly marked as such. Such 7 membership pass shall not mean a subscription or season ticket package 8 offered for sale and shall not result in the sale of more than five 9 percent of all seats available at a venue for a particular event. 10 § 7. Section 25.30 of the arts and cultural affairs law is amended by 11 adding a new subdivision 5 to read as follows: 12 5. No operator or its agent shall transfer a prospective ticket 13 purchaser through any means to a licensee or secondary ticket reseller 14 without providing a clear and conspicuous disclosure that informs the 15 prospective purchaser that the ticket is not being offered by the opera- 16 tor or its agent, but rather by a licensee or other ticket reseller in 17 the secondary market. 18 § 8. The arts and cultural affairs law is amended by adding a new 19 section 25.34 to read as follows: 20 § 25.34. Ticket websites. 1. As used in this section: 21 (a) "Ticket website" means an internet website advertising the sale of 22 tickets, offering the sale of such tickets, or facilitating a secondary 23 ticket exchange. 24 (b) "URL" means the uniform resource locator for a website on the 25 internet. 26 2. (a) It shall be unlawful for any person to, with intent to mislead 27 or deceive, own, operate, or control a ticket website for an event sche- 28 duled at a place of entertainment to use a subdomain or domain name in a 29 ticket website's URL that contains: 30 (i) the name of the place of entertainment, provided that this para- 31 graph shall not preclude the use of general terms to depict a geograph- 32 ical location or venue category; 33 (ii) the name of the specific event, including the name of a person or 34 entity scheduled to perform or appear at the event; or 35 (iii) a name substantially similar to those in subparagraph (i) or 36 (ii) of this paragraph. 37 (b) Paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall not apply if the person is 38 acting on behalf of, and with the consent of, the place of enter- 39 tainment, event, artist or sports team for which the website is being 40 created. 41 3. Any person, firm, corporation or other entity who intentionally 42 owns, operates, or controls such ticket website shall be subject to a 43 civil penalty in an amount of no more than one thousand five hundred 44 dollars for each such violation. 45 4. Any person who is subject to a civil penalty under this section and 46 has been assessed a penalty under this section in the previous three 47 years shall be assessed a civil penalty of no more than five thousand 48 dollars for each such violation. 49 5. The attorney general shall have jurisdiction to enforce the 50 provisions of this section in accordance with the powers granted to him 51 or her by section sixty-three of the executive law. 52 § 9. Section 4 of chapter 704 of the laws of 1991, amending the arts 53 and cultural affairs law and chapter 912 of the laws of 1920 relating to 54 the regulation of boxing and wrestling matches relating to tickets to 55 places of entertainment, as amended by chapter 68 of the laws of 2017, 56 is amended to read as follows:
A. 8245--B 5 1 § 4. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall 2 have become a law, provided, chapter 61 of the laws of 2007 shall not 3 take effect with respect to the issuance of licenses or certificates 4 under this article by the secretary of state or department of state 5 until January 1, 2008 and regulation under this article by the commis- 6 sioners of licenses of the political subdivisions of the state shall 7 continue through December 31, 2007, and shall remain in full force and 8 effect only until and including June 30, [2018] 2021 when such act shall 9 be repealed and when, notwithstanding any other provision of law, the 10 provisions of article 25 of title G of the arts and cultural affairs 11 law, repealed by such act, shall be reinstituted; provided further that 12 section 25.11 of the arts and cultural affairs law, as added by section 13 one of this act, shall survive such repeal date. Provided, however, the 14 printing on tickets required pursuant to sections 25.07 and 25.08 of 15 article 25 of the arts and cultural affairs law, as added by this act, 16 shall not apply to tickets printed prior to enactment of such article so 17 long as notice of the higher maximum premium price and prohibition of 18 sales within one thousand five hundred feet from the physical structure 19 of the place of entertainment, where applicable, is prominently 20 displayed at the point of sale and at such place of entertainment. 21 § 10. Section 11 of chapter 151 of the laws of 2010, amending the arts 22 and cultural affairs law relating to resale of tickets to places of 23 entertainment, as amended by chapter 68 of the laws of 2017, is amended 24 to read as follows: 25 § 11. Notwithstanding the provisions of article 5 of the general 26 construction law, if this act shall take effect after May 15, 2010, the 27 provisions of article 25 of the arts and cultural affairs law, except 28 section 25.11 are hereby revived and shall continue in full force and 29 effect as they existed on May 15, 2010 through June 30, [2018] 2021 when 30 upon such date such provisions shall expire and be deemed repealed. 31 § 11. This act shall take effect immediately; provided however that: 32 (a) sections one, two, three, four, five, seven and eight of this act 33 shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it shall have 34 become a law; and 35 (b) the amendments to article 25 of the arts and cultural affairs law 36 made by sections one, two, three, five, six, seven and eight of this act 37 shall not affect the repeal of such article and shall be deemed repealed 38 therewith.