Oregon ticket-selling transparency bill one step closer to becoming law
SALEM, Ore. (KATU) — A bill to increase transparency and crack down on unfair ticket-selling strategies is one step closer to becoming law as Oregon lawmakers look to make hidden ticket fees a thing of the past.
House Bill 3167 advanced to the Senate Floor, Thursday. If passed, the bill would require ticket sellers and resellers to disclose the full price of admission up front and throughout the purchasing process. That means every fee must be presented to the buyer from start to finish.
It also prohibits the use of website domain names or website content that falsely implies affiliation with the venue. Democratic Rep. Pam Marsh, a chief sponsor of the bill, said she started working on the legislation last year when a staff member was tricked by a fake website and paid three times as much for tickets.
"What we are trying to do in the bill is to really corral deceptive marketing," said Rep.Marsh. "We know that there are bad players out there who will borrow a venue's imagery, who will attempt to copy their website, so that when you as a consumer go on the web to buy tickets, which is a very common practice these days, you fall into a website that, gosh, looks a whole lot like the place that you intended to go to, find the tickets, pay way too much for those tickets."
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Under the bill, resellers must present evidence that they physically or contractually possess the ticket before offering it for resale. They also must disclose key details like the seat location and when it will be delivered.
"We want to make sure that consumers who are buying tickets have all the information that they need about those tickets before they actually hit go," said Rep. Marsh.
It also prohibits using automated bots in the ticket-buying process, whether the bots are purchasing tickets or reselling them.
If this bill were signed into law, violations would be treated as unlawful trade practices under Oregon law, which opens the door to civil lawsuits and penalties.
The Oregon Department of Justice can sue violators in court. Courts could impose injunctions and civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation, and they could require restitution for those impacted by deceptive ticket selling. Individuals would also be able to sue ticket companies for damages.
"If they are harmed because of something that they've purchased or a business interaction for a personal or household benefit, so if they buy tickets, they can use the Unlawful Trade Practices Act to bring action against whichever company defrauded them," said Chris Coughlin with Oregon Consumer Justice.
Over 20 states have introduced or enacted legislation focused on ticket price transparency, the use of automated bots, and consumer protections in the ticket resale market.
"What the bill does is it really puts some very strong deceptive marketing language in Oregon statutes. We're told that it's the strongest language in the country," said Rep. Marsh.
The bill passed the Oregon House by a 40 to 16 vote. A vote in the Oregon Senate has not yet been scheduled. If it passes the Senate, it would advance to the Governor's desk to be signed into law.
