Pascrell Praises Major Ticket Reforms Clearing House Panel

Full Energy and Commerce Committee approves new fixes to broken live events market including Pascrell-championed measures

WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), the sponsor of the BOSS and SWIFT ACT and the leading advocate in Congress for reform of the broken live events ticket market, today praised action by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in approving a slate of reforms to help fix ticketing in America. The amended version of the bipartisan Ticket Act was advanced on a 45-0 vote.

“Obviously my BOSS and SWIFT ACT is the most comprehensive reform to protect consumers across America and I have been pushing these reforms for over a decade. And today, finally, a key House panel made important progress by advancing a measure to create new rules and provide more transparency for America’s broken live events ticket marketplace,” said Congressman Pascrell. “For decades, Americans have been victimized by endless surprise fees and rampant speculation. The recent experiences of Taylor Swift fans are just the tip of the iceberg. Swifties are but part of a long conga line of cases where fans are treated poorly to pad the profits of Live Nation-Ticketmaster. Millions of Americans demand change and a fairer marketplace to buy tickets. I want to thank my BOSS ACT cosponsor, Congressman Frank Pallone, and subcommittee leaders Congressman Gus Bilirakis and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, for their hard work and dedication to advancing ticketing reforms. I will keep pressing for the fuller reforms in the BOSS and SWIFT ACT. But in the meantime, let’s pass this bill on the House floor and show the Senate how to achieve more than the bare minimum for fans everywhere.”

Like Congressman Pascrell’s BOSS and SWIFT ACT, the legislative package approved today includes: 1) a mandate that all-in ticket price be listed; 2) a ban on speculative ticket sales; 3) a requirement for full refunds; 4) crackdown on deceptive websites, as well as; 5) a study on the effectiveness of the BOTS Act.

A full section-by-section breakdown of the BOSS and SWIFT ACT is available here. A companion measure has also been introduced in the Senate by Senators Blumenathal (CT), Hirono (HI) and Markey (MA).

Congressman Pascrell has been a leader in Congress calling for regulation of the opaque live events ticket market. Pascrell was an early critic of the Live Nation-Ticketmaster merger, and repeatedly urged the Obama administration to reject it, warning that the union would crush competition and harm consumers.

On March 22, 2022, Pascrell wrote to the heads of the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division urging them to overhaul federal guidelines to make it easier to overturn bad mergers. As part of the agencies’ joint inquiry into modernizing merger regulations, Pascrell flagged the Live Nation-Ticketmaster as a “posterchild of consolidation gone bad” and urged its dissolution.

President Biden has made junk fees in the ticketing industry a key part of his legislative agenda. To solve many of the problems consumers have faced in the marketplace, the BOSS and SWIFT ACT forces greater transparency and protections to help consumers from unfair and deceptive acts imposed by ticket sellers.

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