Two bills that have been of particular interest to the art’s community were introduced in the House and Senate this week.
Wendi Hassan, executive director of Cache Valley Center for the Arts, has been following the bills closely.
“One is protecting the original ticket sellers so ticket resellers have to be clear that it’s a resell and that tickets might be more than the face value,” Hassan said. “And then the other legislation requires that anyone who does an event give tickets that are resalable so that you can’t restrict how those are then traded and sold after they’ve made the original purchase.”
The first, House Bill 128, would require individuals who resell tickets to include ‘an itemized breakdown of the price of each ticket’. This would help protect buyers who may be new to the process, Hassan said.
“We have had some personal experience with that. We’ve had some audience members be fooled into thinking they are purchasing tickets and bought tickets at three to four times the top ticket price for the back row in a theater that is not even close to sold-out, and that’s predatory,” she said.
Currently, ticket resellers in Utah do not have to disclose if they are part of the event host’s organization, which means they could be working remotely to scam unsuspecting buyers by increasing the ticket price.
House Bill 128 was introduced on Monday and did not pass in the House, however the second piece of legislation is still active. Senate Bill 69 has been passed in the Senate and was introduced in the House on Tuesday, a vote remains to be had.
In the meantime, Hassan says although it is a complicated issue, many organizations are working to combat the issue of reselling. Her best advice: be informed and buy from a trusted source.
