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Panel moves to narrow H.512 resale cap amendment and defer primary-ticketing changes
Summary
At its May 5 meeting, the House Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs committee reviewed an amendment to H.512 that adjusts the definition of "independent venue," preserves a 110% resale cap for smaller Vermont venues and removes a sentence that would have exempted large ticketing firms; lawmakers agreed to keep the bill focused on resale and revisit primary-ticketing rules next year.
BURLINGTON — The House Economic Development, Housing & General Affairs committee on May 5 considered an amendment to H.512, a bill that would cap ticket resale prices and change how the law defines "independent venues." After testimony from legislative counsel, industry representatives and the Vermont Arts Council, the panel proposed narrowing the amendment now and postponing changes to primary-ticketing rules to a future session.
Cameron, legislative counsel, told the committee the draft contains two replacement provisions for the definition of "independent venue." The amendment keeps a 110% cap on resale prices but ties that cap to events held at independent venues with a seating-capacity threshold; the version discussed would apply the cap to venues that seat 3,000 or fewer and to certain nonprofit event spaces. The draft also included an exclusion for event spaces that are party to an exclusive ticketing agreement with a ticketing company that owns, operates or promotes live events at 20 or more U.S. venues.
"Independent venue means an event space that derives the majority of its revenue, excluding charitable donations, from ticket events," Cameron said while reviewing the highlighted language. He said the additional sentence was intended to close a narrow loophole but that counsel could not identify whether any Vermont venues fit the exclusion.
Matt McMahon of MMR, who said he represents competing ticketing platforms, urged the committee to keep the exclusion. "They've been found to be an illegal monopoly in federal court," McMahon said of major national ticketing firms, arguing the added language closes a scenario in which a dominant firm could avoid the resale cap by contracting directly with venues and then handling secondary sales.
Susan Evans McClure, executive director of the Vermont Arts Council, urged caution. "The language that was added specifically in this area is not about ticket resale. It's about primary ticket sales," she said, arguing the change would move the bill into a different policy area and could constrain how Vermont venues run their businesses. She and other arts-sector witnesses said they favor legislation that targets resale now and a separate effort next year on primary-ticketing practices.
Committee members also flagged an unintended consequence of the committee's 3,000-seat cutoff: several Vermont sports venues exceed that limit. Members named Centennial Field (about 4,415 seats) and the Gutterson Fieldhouse (about 3,600 seats) as examples, and counsel said the amendment was adjusted to ensure collegiate and amateur-sports venues were included.
The chair proposed adopting the amendment while striking the sentence that would exclude certain event spaces tied to large ticketing companies, and asked members to defer broader primary-ticketing work to a later session. The clerk confirmed they would make the change and print the amendment for the floor; the transcript shows the committee agreed to prepare the revised amendment and add sponsor names, but it does not record a formal roll-call vote on adoption in the hearing.
The changes discussed preserve the bill's consumer-protection aim — a 110% cap on resale prices in defined circumstances — while the committee and stakeholders plan additional work over the summer and next year to examine primary-ticketing and the role of large ticketing platforms.
What happens next: committee staff said the amendment will be printed for second reading on the floor; members suggested a separate, more detailed review of primary-ticketing rules in a subsequent legislative session.
