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Committee hears support for bill banning speculative ticket resales that sell tickets not in hand
Summary
At a Feb. 3 public hearing, sponsors and venue operators urged passage of HB 4,024 to prohibit resale listings for tickets sellers do not possess or are not contractually authorized to obtain; advocates said the bill would protect consumers and independent venues from fraud and operational harm.
Representative Pam Marsh told the committee HB 4,024 is a "common sense" measure to stop speculative ticketing — the practice of resellers advertising and selling tickets they do not actually possess or cannot obtain through a written contract with the event operator.
"These stories are not isolated," Marsh said, recounting examples in her district where consumers paid hundreds or thousands for speculative listings and then arrived to find legitimate ticketholders already seated. Witnesses from independent venues said speculative listings appear within hours of show announcements, often at multiples of face value and with false scarcity messages that mislead buyers.
Abby McKee (Bridal Music and Arts Festival) and Heather Wilton (Portland 5 Centers for the Arts) described operational and reputational harms when patrons arrive with invalid tickets; Marnie Smith (Hayden Homes Amphitheatre) said her venue saw speculative listings for an announced show days before tickets went on sale, with prices three to six times face value. Industry groups representing independent venues and festivals also urged the committee to pass the narrow measure, which places speculative ticketing under Oregon's Unlawful Trade Practices Act so that consumers and the attorney general have enforcement options.
Supporters said the bill is deliberately limited in scope to target bad actors and preserve legitimate resale and marketplace activity when sellers have tickets or explicit authorization to resell. "House Bill 4,024 is a simple common sense solution to one of the long standing issues facing Oregon's arts, entertainment, and live event industries," Marsh said.
The committee closed the hearing on HB 4,024 and adjourned. No committee vote was taken. Stakeholders asked staff to confirm definitions (for example, who qualifies as a "person affiliated with a reseller") and to post the materials and examples submitted during testimony.
