BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 1832
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   April 30, 2014

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                  Mike Gatto, Chair

                  AB 1832 (Calderon) - As Amended:  April 10, 2014 

          Policy Committee:                              Arts Vote:  7-0  
          (Consent)
                        Business and Professions              14-0  
          (Consent)

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill amends legislation enacted last year-making it a  
          misdemeanor to intentionally use or sell software to circumvent  
          a security measure, access control system, or other control or  
          measure on a ticket seller's website that is used to ensure an  
          equitable ticket buying process-to remove the limitation that  
          the control measure be on the ticket seller's website.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Potential minor non-reimbursable costs to cities and counties  
          for enforcement, offset to some extent by fine revenues.

           COMMENTS  

           Background and Purpose  . AB 329 (Pan)/Statutes of 2013, attempted  
          to address the unregulated use of robotic ticket buying software  
          (or bots), which allow scalpers to unfairly create instant  
          sellouts of events before the average fan has a chance to buy  
          tickets. These persons subsequently sell tickets they purchased  
          through bots at highly marked-up prices, forcing fans to pay  
          more for tickets when they have not had any fair opportunity to  
          purchase a face-value ticket directly from the ticket issuer or  
          event organizer.

          According to the author, language of AB 329 referring to a  
          seller's Internet Web site could be interpreted to limit the  
          statute's application to transactions conducted online, and  
          unintentionally omit other media, such as mobile applications,  








                                                                  AB 1832
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          smart TVs and telecommunication devices. The author indicates  
          that AB 329 is a technical clean-up bill simply striking the  
          limitation in current law to measures used to circumvent  
          equitable ticket buying process targeting Internet Web sites.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081