A bill that would restructure the resale ticket market in the US state of Georgia moved forward through a Senate committee in the state legislature last week.
The proposed legislation would give more power to consumers purchasing tickets for events in Georgia and would allow holders to resell or transfer their tickets more easily. The bill passed out of the Committee on Economic Development and Tourism after a hearing on Thursday.
Senator Josh McLaurin, D-14th District, North Fulton told Atlanta News First: “What this bill does is guarantee a legal right to resell or transfer for consumers. Which is in effect making it your property. It’s your ticket. You can do what you want with it.”
At present, Senator McLaurin said that companies such as Ticketmaster and Live Nation use technology to control the resale or transfer of a ticket.
During the hearing, representatives for Major League Baseball’s Atlanta Braves, the National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United spoke against the passage of the bill.
The representatives said that the bill would offer more authority to third-party sellers and offer a boost to scalpers.
Over in Colorado, a bill attempting to scale back on allowing ticket-holders the freedom of reselling their ticket without barriers is currently being discussed.
The bill, named SB23-060, was introduced by Colorado Senator Robert Rodriguez and would allow companies like Ticketmaster or a venue box office to revoke tickets, if the holder chooses to sell them or give them away without permission.
SB23-060 would, however, help to deal with ‘bots’ used by scalpers to secure large quantities of tickets to resell at extortionate prices.