Fairness In Ticketing Dies

A proposed ticketing bill in Tennessee that scored support from Ticketmaster, venues and artists in the state recently died following intense debate.

The Fairness in Ticketing Act called for ticket brokers to register with the state, disclose the face value and location of the seats and explain their refund policy and whether they had the tickets in hand.

But during a meeting of the House Business and Utilities Committee April 3, the act’s sponsor Ryan Haynes pulled it from consideration, noting the bill had faced “some of the harshest” lobbying he’d ever experienced, the Tennessean reported.

In an effort to appease both sides, Haynes had amended two controversial provisions of the original bill – one that referenced a ticket as a license and another that supported paperless ticketing.

StubHub, the most vocal critic of the measure, had cried foul on those sections but continued to raise concerns that the new version of the bill would strip consumers of their resale rights and impose strict conditions on resale marketplaces.

StubHub’s protest was joined in recent weeks by conservative groups including the Nashville Tea Party, American Conservative Union and MidSouth Tea Party, the Tennessean said.

Haynes told the paper he plans to present the bill again next year.