Florida Senate - 2012                                     SB 392
       
       
       
       By Senator Bogdanoff
       
       
       
       
       25-00429-12                                            2012392__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to ticket sales; amending s. 817.357,
    3         F.S.; defining the term “original ticket seller”;
    4         requiring an original ticket seller to provide advance
    5         public notice of its ticket policies for any event
    6         that takes place in a facility that receives any
    7         public funding; providing requirements for such
    8         notice; requiring an original ticket seller to comply
    9         with specified consumer protection standards for any
   10         event that takes place in a facility that receives any
   11         public funding; requiring each required public notice
   12         of event ticket practices to be accompanied by a
   13         specified certification; prohibiting specified
   14         practices by original ticket sellers; providing that
   15         specified violations are a violation of the Florida
   16         Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act; providing
   17         exceptions; providing applicability; providing an
   18         effective date.
   19  
   20  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   21  
   22         Section 1. Section 817.357, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   23  read:
   24         817.357 Transparency in ticket availability Purchase of
   25  tickets.—
   26         (1) As used in this section, the term “original ticket
   27  seller” means a person other than the operator of an Internet
   28  resale marketplace that makes admission tickets available for
   29  initial sale, directly or indirectly, to the general public, and
   30  may include the operator of a venue; the sponsor or promoter of
   31  an event; a sports team participating in an event or a league
   32  whose teams are participant in an event; a theater company,
   33  musical group, or similar participant in an event; or an agent
   34  of any such person.
   35         (2) Whoever knowingly purchases from the original ticket
   36  seller a quantity of tickets to an event which exceeds the
   37  maximum ticket limit quantity posted by or on behalf of the
   38  original ticket seller at the point of original sale or printed
   39  on the tickets themselves and intends to resell such tickets
   40  violates ss. 501.201-501.213, the Florida Deceptive and Unfair
   41  Trade Practices Act. A person or firm is not liable under this
   42  section with respect to tickets for which that person or firm is
   43  the original ticket seller. For purposes of this section, the
   44  term “original ticket seller” means the issuer of such ticket or
   45  a person or firm who provides distribution services or ticket
   46  sales services under a contract with such issuer.
   47         (3) An original ticket seller shall provide advance public
   48  notice of its ticket policies for any event that takes place in
   49  a facility that receives any public funding. The notice shall be
   50  posted conspicuously on the original ticket seller’s website and
   51  at physical locations where tickets are issued to the public and
   52  shall include the following information:
   53         (a) Identification of the event, including the date, time,
   54  and location.
   55         (b) The total number of event tickets to be issued for the
   56  event and the number of such tickets for every class, tier, or
   57  level of admission offered.
   58         (c) The total number of event tickets to the event that
   59  will be made available for purchase by members of the general
   60  public as public sale tickets and the number of such tickets for
   61  every class, tier, or level of admission offered.
   62         (d) The established price for each class, tier, or level of
   63  admission offered which will be designated as public sale
   64  tickets, including the amount of any premium, service charge, or
   65  other fee applicable to the sale of such ticket.
   66         (e) Whether the ticket being sold was not made available at
   67  the time of the initial public sale.
   68         (f) The on-sale date and time.
   69         (g) A complete list of the outlets at which such public
   70  sale tickets will be made available for sale to the general
   71  public on the date and at the time specified, including a list
   72  of all Internet websites at which such tickets will be made
   73  available.
   74         (h) A toll-free telephone number for the handling of
   75  customer issues regarding the original sale of the event ticket.
   76         (i) The refund policy criteria and process.
   77         (4) An original ticket seller shall comply with the
   78  following minimum consumer protection standards for any event
   79  that takes place in a facility that receives any public funding:
   80         (a) Maintain a toll-free telephone number for the handling
   81  of customer issues regarding the sale or resale of event
   82  tickets.
   83         (b) Implement and reasonably publicize a standard refund
   84  policy that provides a consumer who purchased an event ticket a
   85  full refund if:
   86         1. The event is canceled before the scheduled occurrence of
   87  the event and is not rescheduled;
   88         2. The event ticket received by the purchaser is
   89  counterfeit;
   90         3. The event ticket has been canceled by the ticket issuer
   91  for nonpayment by the original purchaser or for any reason other
   92  than an act or omission of the consumer;
   93         4. The event ticket materially and to the detriment of the
   94  consumer fails to conform to the description provided by the
   95  seller or reseller; or
   96         5. The event ticket was not delivered to the consumer prior
   97  to the occurrence of the event, unless such failure of delivery
   98  was due to any act or omission of the consumer.
   99  
  100  The full refund must include the full price paid by the consumer
  101  for the event ticket, together with any fees charged in
  102  connection with that purchase, including, but not limited to,
  103  convenience fees, processing fees, at home printing charges,
  104  shipping and handling charges, or delivery fees. The original
  105  ticket seller may condition entitlement to a refund upon timely
  106  return of the ticket purchased and may include reasonable
  107  safeguards against abuse of the policy.
  108         (5) Each public notice of event ticket practices required
  109  by this section shall be accompanied by a certification that the
  110  original ticket seller is in compliance with all the
  111  requirements of this section, that all tickets designated as
  112  public sale tickets will in fact be made available for sale to
  113  the general public as stated in the notice, and that all the
  114  information contained in the notice is true and correct to the
  115  best of the knowledge and belief of the party submitting the
  116  notice.
  117         (6) Except as otherwise provided in this section, it is
  118  unlawful for an original ticket seller to engage in any of the
  119  following:
  120         (a) Purport to impose license or contractual terms on the
  121  initial sale of event tickets, including, but not limited to,
  122  terms printed on the back of a physical ticket that prohibit
  123  resale of the ticket or that restrict the price or other terms
  124  and conditions under which a ticket may be resold or
  125  transferred.
  126         (b) Require the purchaser of a ticket, whether for a single
  127  event or for a series or season of events, to agree not to
  128  resell the ticket or to resell the ticket only through a
  129  specific channel approved by the ticket issuer.
  130         (c) Bring legal action based on an unlawful prohibition or
  131  restriction on resale of an event ticket against a purchaser who
  132  resells or offers to resell an event ticket without permission
  133  of the ticket issuer, or in violation of a restriction
  134  purportedly imposed by the ticket issuer; persons who facilitate
  135  or provide services for the resale of event tickets without such
  136  permission or in alleged violation of such a restriction; or the
  137  operator of a physical or electronic marketplace in which a
  138  ticket is offered for resale without such permission, or in
  139  alleged violation of such a restriction.
  140         (d) Impose any penalty on a ticket purchaser who resells or
  141  offers to resell an event ticket without permission or in
  142  violation of a restriction purportedly imposed by the ticket
  143  issuer or treat such a purchaser in any material way less
  144  favorably than a similarly situated purchaser who does not
  145  resell or offer to resell an event ticket or who complies with
  146  resale restrictions purportedly imposed by the ticket issuer.
  147         (e) Employ any means, including technological means, for
  148  the purpose or with the foreseeable effect of prohibiting or
  149  restricting the resale of event tickets, including, but not
  150  limited to, issuing event tickets in a form that is not readily
  151  transferrable to a subsequent purchaser or conditioning entry
  152  into the venue on presentation of a token such as the original
  153  purchaser’s credit card or state-issued identification card that
  154  cannot be readily transferred to a subsequent purchaser.
  155         (f) Seek to limit or restrict the price, or to impose a
  156  minimum or maximum price, at which an event ticket may be
  157  resold.
  158         (7) Any original ticket seller or its agent who sells a
  159  ticket without providing proper notice pursuant to subsection
  160  (3) or fails to comply with the other requirements in this
  161  section violates part II of chapter 501, the Florida Deceptive
  162  and Unfair Trade Practices Act.
  163         (8) This section does not apply to:
  164         (a) A sponsor or promoter of an event intended solely to
  165  benefit a charitable endeavor for which all tickets are
  166  distributed free of charge.
  167         (b) A not-for-profit educational institution, with respect
  168  to an athletic event involving athletes or teams of the
  169  institution, to the extent that such restrictions apply to
  170  tickets initially distributed by the institution to any of the
  171  following:
  172         1. Students, faculty, staff members, or alumni without
  173  charge.
  174         2. Members of bona fide booster organizations consisting of
  175  those making substantial financial contributions to the
  176  institution.
  177         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012, and
  178  apply to all ticket sales made on or after that date.