Committee advances revised ticketing bill that would require price disclosure and cap resale at 110% for small independent venues

The Senate Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs committee reviewed a revised strike‑all draft of H.512 on April 29 that would require ticket issuers to display the total original ticket price on the face of the ticket and would cap secondary‑market resale at 110% of that price for events at qualifying independent venues.

Cameron of the Office of Legislative Counsel guided members through draft 2.1 (later edited to 2.2), reading a new definition that limits the price‑cap provisions to “independent venues” that derive a majority of revenue from ticketed events, are not majority‑owned by a publicly traded company and do not operate venues in more than ten states. Cameron also described the proposed reseller definition as “the business entity engaged in the sale or resale of tickets.” He read the provision stating that “a ticket reseller shall not sell or offer for sale a ticket at a price greater than 110% of the price of the original ticket,” and noted the cap and other resale restrictions apply only for events at independent venues with seating capacity of 3,000 or fewer or nonprofit venues that host agricultural fairs, exhibitions or multi‑day community events.

Committee members pressed counsel and the assistant attorney general on the definition of “reseller” and how enforcement would work. One committee member said they wanted to protect consumer rights and avoid unintentionally criminalizing casual personal sales; Todd Davis, assistant attorney general, explained there is an established legal test for when repeated sales and income turn a seller’s activity into a business and said enforcement would likely be complaint‑driven. “My read on that language is…there’s a test…when an individual starts operating as a business,” Davis said, noting the circumstances where an individual might be treated as a business are limited.

Cameron said he added a clarifying sentence to the definition to exclude “an individual reselling a ticket purchased for personal use” from the reseller definition; several members said that change made them more comfortable supporting the draft. Members debated whether to instead require a reseller to be “regularly” engaged in resale; supporters of that language said it focused enforcement on repeat sellers, while others said adding a “regularly” qualifier complicates enforcement and preferred the explicit exclusion of casual personal sales.

Susan McClure, executive director of the Vermont Arts Council, told the committee many venues already print or show the total ticket price and that most venues would be willing to implement an on‑ticket disclosure. She cautioned, however, that some smaller venues that contract with ticketing platforms could incur additional costs to change platform displays and that those businesses and nonprofits may have little leverage to force platform changes. “Most of the venues were very willing to take that on, but it is something to acknowledge that there’s a chance that will increase cost for the businesses and nonprofits to make the change,” McClure said.

Members also discussed the bill’s scope, noting that larger facilities such as the new UVM sports venue (estimated at roughly 5,000 seats) would fall outside the 3,000‑seat cap but smaller community venues and fairs would be covered. The draft retains an in‑state limitation for speculative‑ticket definitions so the law targets events held within Vermont.

The draft includes a sunset provision; counsel noted an effective date provision (cited in committee discussion as July 23) and several members signaled comfort with sunsetting the price cap while leaving other provisions in place to allow legislative review.

A committee member moved to report draft 2.2 of H.512 favorably. The transcript records the motion but not a roll‑call or final recorded vote before the committee recessed for three minutes; the committee left the bill open for further drafting and a forthcoming vote.

If enacted as drafted, H.512 would (1) require ticket issuers to display the total original ticket price on the face of a ticket, (2) require secondary‑market sellers and exchanges to disclose when a buyer is purchasing from a reseller, and (3) prohibit resales over 110% of face value for qualifying independent and small‑capacity venues, subject to the definitions and enforcement clarifications discussed by the committee.

Next steps: committee members asked counsel to post draft 2.2 and circulate a clean copy; the bill remained under consideration and the committee planned to resume action after a short recess.