“US Capitol Building” by ttarasiuk is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

On Tuesday, April 8, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce unanimously passed the TICKET Act, a significant step forward for the hard-fought legislation against entertainment monopolies and a predatory aftermarket.

Originally introduced by Representatives Jan Schakowsky (Illinois Democrat) and Gus Bilirakis (Florida Republican) in June 2023, the bill guarantees some crucial consumer protections for the live entertainment industry and garnered enough bipartisan support to be passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in a landslide vote in May 2024. After being reintroduced by Schakowsky and Bilirakis in February, the bill now advances to full House consideration again.

“We have worked a long time on this legislation – it’s been a couple of years,” Schakowski reflected when reintroducing the bill. “And we should not have any problems with this right now, because we know that this legislation has passed the House of Representatives pretty much unanimously, and we have had sponsors across the aisle at all times.”

Among those mandates of the TICKET–or Transparency In Charges for Key Events Ticketing–act are all-in pricing and a requirement that secondary sellers disclose their status as such, forgoing any pretense to association with artists, promoters or venues. The most promising new regulations include a sweeping ban on speculative ticket sales and a requirement that primary ticket sellers guarantee refunds for canceled events or issue replacements in applicable cases, while secondary sellers must clearly express a refund policy at the time of purchase.

Last year, the TICKET Act was approved by the House in a vote of 388-24, and advanced to Senate consideration as part of Congress’ initial Continuing Resolution in December. The act was excised from the third and final Continuing Resolution after then-President-Elect Trump, aided by Elon Musk, torpedoed the first bipartisan spending bill; in its absence, the Federal Trade Commission announced the Junk Fees Rule, which also requires full upfront pricing from ticketing agents and will go into effect by the end of April.

“We’re grateful to Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Jan Schakowsky, Chairman Brett Guthrie and Ranking Member Pallone for re-introducing the TICKET Act, which includes an all-in pricing mandate and bans speculative ticketing – a deceptive scheme that targets concert-going fans,” Live Nation offered in a statement for Hypebot. “Live Nation has long advocated for such reforms, and we’re hopeful Congress could soon pass these important changes into law to make the concert industry better for fans and artists.”

Read more about the TICKET Act here.