SENATE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE, No. 1679

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

ADOPTED JUNE 5, 1997

Sponsored by Senators SINGER, EWING, Bassano, Rice and Cafiero

An Act concerning the resale of tickets for admission to places of entertainment.

      Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:

      1. There is established the Ticket Brokering Study Commission, which shall consist of nine members as follows: two members of the Senate, to be appointed by the President thereof, who shall not be of the same political party; two members of the General Assembly, to be appointed by the Speaker thereof, who shall not be of the same political party; and the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs or his designee. The following members shall be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate: a representative of ticket brokers or agents who engage in original sales of tickets, a representative of ticket brokers who engage in the resale of tickets, a representative of a group or association representing consumers; and a representative of the general public.

       Vacancies in the membership of the commission shall be filled in the same manner as the original appointments were made. Members of the commission shall serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for the necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties to the extent that funds are made available for this purpose.

      2. The commission shall organize as soon as possible after the appointment and qualification of its members. The members of the commission shall elect a chairman from among the membership and a secretary, who need not be a member of the commission.

      3. The commission shall conduct a study of the deregulated market for ticket brokering to assess the feasibility of reducing government regulation of entertainment ticket sales in order to make such tickets available to consumers in the secondary market. As part of this assessment the commission shall determine whether a deregulated market will cause ticket prices to significantly increase or decrease; whether it is in the best interests of the consumer to establish a permanent deregulated market for the resale of entertainment tickets; and, whether a deregulated market would increase attendance at New Jersey entertainment events. The commission also shall determine whether benefits, such as an increase in tourism and jobs, would inure to the State's economy through establishment of a deregulated market for entertainment tickets.

      4. The commission shall be entitled to the assistance and services of the employees of any State, county or municipal department, board, bureau, commission or agency which it may require and as may be available to it for its purposes, and to employ such stenographic and clerical assistants and incur traveling and other miscellaneous expenses as necessary to perform its duties and as may be within the limits of funds appropriated or otherwise made available to it for its purposes.

      5. The commission may meet and hold hearings at such places as it shall designate and shall report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature within 18 months of the effective date of this act, accompanied by any legislative bills which it may desire to recommend for enactment.

      6. Notwithstanding the provisions of section 8 of P.L.1983, c.135 (C.56:8-33), for a period of 18 months following the effective date of this act or until submission of the final report of the Ticket Brokering Study Commission pursuant to this act, whichever occurs later, the resale price of each ticket subject to the provisions of P.L.1983, c.135 (C.56:8-26 et seq.) shall not be limited to the price charged therefor and printed on the face of the ticket. As used in this section, "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.

      7. This act shall take effect immediately.

STATEMENT

      This Senate substitute provides for the creation of a "Ticket Brokering Study Commission" composed of nine members to study whether a free market for the sale of entertainment tickets would be beneficial to this State. The members would be as follows: two members of the Senate appointed by the Senate President, of different political parties; two members of the General Assembly appointed by the Speaker, of different political parties; and the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs or his designee. The following members would be appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate: a representative of ticket brokers or agents who engage in original sales of tickets; a representative of ticket brokers who engage in the resale of tickets; a representative of a group or association representing consumers; and, a representative of the general public.

      The commission is instructed to conduct a study of the deregulated market for ticket brokering to determine whether there is a need to reduce government regulation of entertainment ticket sales and make these tickets available to consumers in the secondary market. The commission would also determine whether a free market will cause ticket prices to significantly increase or decrease; whether it is in the best interests of the consumer to establish a permanent deregulated market for the resale of entertainment tickets; whether a deregulated market would result in increased attendance at New Jersey entertainment events and venues; and, whether benefits such as an increase in tourism and jobs would inure to the State's economy.

      The commission would be required to report its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature within 18 months of the substitute bill's effective date, along with any legislative bills which it may desire to recommend for enactment.

      The substitute also provides that for a period of 18 months after its effective date or until submission of the commission's final report, whichever occurs later, the statutory limitations on the resale price of entertainment tickets would not be applicable.