Bill Text: CA AB2808 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 2808 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Primary ticket sellers.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-05-16 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB2808 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2808-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly March 21, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2808

Introduced by Assembly Member Wicks

February 15, 2024

An act to ~~amend Section 22600~~ add Chapter 21.1 (commencing with Section 22512) to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to business.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2808, as amended, Wicks. ~~Commercial directories: fines.~~ Ticketing enterprise providers.

Existing law regulates ticket sellers, defined as a person who, for compensation, commission, or otherwise, sells admission tickets to entertainment events. In this regard, existing law prohibits specified ticket selling practices and imposes certain recordkeeping and disclosure requirements on ticket sellers.
This bill would require a ticketing enterprise provider, as defined, to include an application programming interface (API) that enables any participating ticketing provider, as defined, to integrate with the ticket manifest to list and sell primary tickets or secondary tickets, as those terms are defined, that are instantly verified by the ticketing enterprise system. The bill would make it unlawful for a ticketing enterprise provider or an entertainment facility to provide services associated with a system access API, as defined, on an exclusive or discriminatory basis, as specified. The bill would make it unlawful to limit the transfer or resale of a ticket or penalize, discriminate against, or deny access to an event to a person who has resold a ticket or purchases a secondary ticket. This bill would make a violation of the bill’s provisions subject to a $2,500 civil penalty for each ticket not sold or offered for sale in violation of the bill’s provisions.
Existing law requires a publisher to obtain the written consent of a subscriber who has been assigned a telephone number for a facsimile machine before including the number in any commercial directory, as specified. Existing law makes a violation of this provision an infraction punishable by a fine of $500.
~~This bill would increase that fine to $525. The bill would also make a nonsubstantive change to those provisions.~~

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Chapter 21.1 (commencing with Section 22512) is added to Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code, to read:

CHAPTER 21.1. Ticketing Enterprise Provider
22512.
For purposes of this chapter:
(a) “Entertainment facility” means a publicly or privately owned place of entertainment including, but not limited to, an arena, auditorium, concert hall, live performance venue, racetrack, stadium, theater, or other place where live entertainment events are presented for a price of admission.
(b) “Participating ticketing provider” means a primary ticketing provider or a secondary ticketing provider that meets all of the following requirements:
(1) Has a toll-free telephone number or email address dedicated for consumer complaints.
(2) Has a standard refund policy that guarantees the purchaser a full refund under any of the following circumstances:
(A) The event is canceled.
(B) The ticket does not allow the purchaser to enter the ticketed event unless the ticket is canceled due to an act or omission by the purchaser.
(C) The ticket fails to conform to its description or the purchaser failed to receive the ticket.
(D) The purchaser failed to receive the ticket.
(3) Pays the system access fee.
(c) “Primary ticket” means the initial sale of a ticket to an event held at an entertainment facility.
(d) “Primary ticketing provider” means a business that operates an internet website, software application for a mobile device, or any other digital platform to sell or facilitate the sale of primary tickets to events held at an entertainment facility.
(e) “Secondary ticket” means the sale of a ticket to an event held at an entertainment facility that is subsequent to the sale of the primary ticket.
(f) “Secondary ticketing provider” means a business, including a primary ticketing provider, that operates an internet website, software application for a mobile device, or any other digital platform to facilitate the sale of secondary tickets to events held at an entertainment facility.
(g) “System access API” means an application programming interface that enables a participating ticket provider to integrate with the ticket manifest in order to list and sell primary tickets and list and sell secondary tickets that are instantly verified by the ticketing enterprise system.
(h) “System access fee” means the fee paid by the participating ticketing provider to the primary ticketing provider for the system access API.
(i) “Ticketing enterprise provider” means a business, which may include a primary ticketing provider or a secondary ticketing provider, that operates a ticketing enterprise system.
(j) “Ticketing enterprise system” means a product or product suite used by an entertainment facility to manage box office operations for ticket sales and ticket distribution, including the ticket manifest.
(k) “Ticket manifest” means a detailed accounting of all tickets that have been generated for the event.
22512.1.
A ticketing enterprise provider shall include an application programming interface that enables any participating ticketing provider to integrate with the ticket manifest in order to list and sell primary tickets and list and sell secondary tickets that are instantly verified by the ticketing enterprise system.
22512.2.
(a) The ticketing enterprise provider shall establish a uniform set of terms applicable to all participating ticketing providers to govern participation, maintenance, and support issues associated with the system access API.
(b) It shall be unlawful for a ticketing enterprise provider or an entertainment facility to provide or offer to provide services associated with the system access API on an exclusive or discriminatory basis, including, but not limited to, the following:
(1) Providing an exclusive or tiered schedule for selling primary tickets or secondary tickets.
(2) Providing service enhancements to a participating ticketing provider on more favorable terms than any other participating ticketing provider.
(3) Throttling or degrading access.
22512.3.
The cost of the system access fee shall be reasonable and proportionate to the ticketing enterprise provider’s cost of validating the ticket and maintaining the administration of the system access API. The ticketing enterprise provider shall not adjust the cost of the system access fee to discriminate against or discourage participation by any participating ticketing provider.
22512.4.
It shall be unlawful for a ticketing enterprise provider or entertainment facility to do either of the following:
(a) Limit the transfer or resale of a ticket.
(b) Penalize, discriminate against, or deny access to an event to a person who has resold a ticket or who purchases a secondary ticket.
22512.5.
A person who violates this section shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500) for each violation, which may be assessed and recovered in an action brought in the name of the people of the State of California by the Attorney General, a district attorney, a city attorney, or a city prosecutor. For purposes of this section, each ticket not sold or offered for sale in violation of this section shall constitute a separate violation. The remedies provided by this section are in addition to the remedies or penalties available under all other laws of this state.

SECTION 1.Section 22600 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:
22600.
(a)Every publisher shall, prior to including a telephone number for a facsimile machine in any commercial directory of telephone numbers, obtain the written consent of the subscriber who has been assigned the number unless the telephone number for the facsimile machine is obtained from a telephone corporation’s alphabetical or classified directory of telephone numbers.
~~(b)As used in this section:~~
~~(1)“Commercial directory” does not include an alphabetical directory of telephone numbers or a classified directory published by a telephone corporation.~~
(2)“Telephone number for a facsimile machine” means any number designated in a directory as being for a facsimile machine or any number included in a directory represented to be a directory of telephone numbers for facsimile machines.
(c)Every publisher shall notify, in writing, all of the subscribers of the facsimile telephone numbers printed in the publisher’s directory of the requirements of this chapter on or before April 1, 1991. Unless the subscriber thereafter notifies the publisher otherwise, telephone numbers for facsimile machines published prior to July 1, 1991, without the written consent of the subscriber, may continue to be published by that publisher. Upon notification by the subscriber that they desire to be excluded from the directory, all subsequent volumes of the directory shall exclude the subscriber’s facsimile telephone number.
~~(d)Every violation of subdivision (a) is an infraction punishable by a fine of five hundred twenty-five dollars ($525).~~