Bill Text: NJ A3338 | 2018-2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Limits use of paperless ticketing systems
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-12 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Regulated Professions Committee [A3338 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2018-A3338-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman KEVIN J. ROONEY
District 40 (Bergen, Essex, Morris and Passaic)
SYNOPSIS
Limits use of paperless ticketing systems.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning ticket sales, and amending and supplementing P.L.1983, c.135.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 1 of P.L.1983, c.135 (C.56:8-26) is amended to read as follows:
1. As used in this act:
a. "Director" means the director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety.
b. "Division" means the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety.
c. "Person" means corporations, companies, associations, societies, firms, partnerships and joint stock companies as well as individuals.
d. "Place of entertainment" means any privately or publicly owned and operated entertainment facility within this State, such as a theater, stadium, museum, arena, racetrack or other place where performances, concerts, exhibits, games or contests are held and for which an entry fee is charged.
e. "Ticket" means any piece of paper which indicates that the bearer has paid for entry or other evidence which permits entry to a place of entertainment.
f. "Ticket broker" means any person situated in and operating in this State who is involved in the business of reselling tickets of admission to places of entertainment and who charges a premium in excess of the price, plus taxes, printed on the tickets. For the purposes of this act, the term "ticket broker" shall not include an individual not regularly engaged in the business of reselling tickets, who resells less than 30 tickets during any one-year period, and who obtained the tickets for his own use, or the use of his family, friends, or acquaintances.
g. "Resale" means a sale by a person other than the owner or operator of a place of entertainment or of the entertainment event or an agent of any such person.
h. "Resell" means to offer for resale or to consummate a resale.
i. "Digger" means a person temporarily hired for the purpose of securing tickets by intimidating a purchaser waiting in line to procure event tickets.
j. "Paperless ticketing
system" means a ticketing system in which the payment card an individual uses
to purchase tickets for admission to a place of entertainment is required to be
present at the time of admission for all tickets purchased in order to gain
entry into the place of entertainment.
k. "Ticket issuer" means any person, other than an online marketplace or reseller, that makes tickets available directly or indirectly, at an initial sale or pre-sale, to the general public, and may include the owner or operator of a place of entertainment, the producer or sponsor of an entertainment event, a sports team or sports league of teams participating in an entertainment event, a theater company, musical group or similar participant in an entertainment event, or an agent of any such person.
(cf: P.L.2008, c.55, s.1)
2. (New Section) a. No ticket issuer shall employ a paperless ticketing system unless the ticket purchaser is given the option to purchase paperless tickets that the ticket purchaser can transfer, at any price and at any time without additional fees, independently of the ticket issuer.
b. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection a. of this section, a ticket issuer may employ a paperless ticketing system that does not allow for independent transferability of the paperless ticket only if the ticket purchaser is offered at the time of initial sale the option to purchase the same ticket or tickets in some other form that is transferable, at any time, independent of the ticket issuer, including, but not limited to, paper tickets of paperless tickets. The established price for any ticket shall be the same regardless of the form or transferability of the ticket. The ability of a ticket to be transferred independently of the ticket issuer shall not constitute a special service for the purpose of imposing a service charge.
c. A ticket issuer shall not offer as the only option available to a ticket purchaser pursuant to this section the requirement to pick up a ticket at the will-call window or the box office of an entertainment facility in advance of the entertainment event for which the ticket is issued. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a ticket issuer from requiring pick up at a will-call window as the only delivery method for tickets purchased within four days of the entertainment event for which the ticket is purchased, provided that the initial sale or pre-sale of the ticket occurred more than four days prior to the entertainment event.
3. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill amends and supplements P.L.1983, c.135 and limits the use of paperless ticketing systems, which, as defined by the bill, mean ticketing systems in which the payment card an individual uses to purchase tickets for admission to a place of entertainment is required to be present at the time of admission for all tickets purchased in order to gain entry into the place of entertainment.
Specifically, the bill prohibits ticket issuers from employing a paperless ticketing system unless the ticket purchaser is given the option to purchase paperless tickets that the ticket purchaser can transfer, at any price and at any time, without additional fees and independently of the ticket issuer. Ticket issuers may employ a paperless ticketing system that does not allow for independent transferability of the paperless ticket only if the ticket purchaser is offered, at the time of initial sale, the option to purchase the same ticket or tickets in some other form that is transferable, at any time, independently of the ticket issuer, including, but not limited to, paper tickets of paperless tickets.
To meet these requirements, the bill prohibits ticket issuers from offering as the only option available to a ticket purchaser to pick up a ticket at the will-call window or the box office of an entertainment facility, except when the ticket is purchased within four days of the entertainment event.
Under current law, any person who violates provisions of P.L.1983, c.135 (C.56:8-26 et seq.) is guilty of a crime of a fourth degree. A crime of the fourth degree is ordinarily punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to 18 months or a fine of up to $10,000, or both. Under the bill, these existing penalties will apply to violations of the bill's provisions.
