ST PAUL, Minn. — The "Eras" Tour not only inspired Taylor Swift’s fans, it sparked legislation at the Minnesota Capitol.
Rep. Kelly Moller, a Shoreview Democrat, has renewed her effort to reform event ticket sales with legislation that calls for ticket pricing transparency among other things.
"The genesis of this bill was really my experience being a Swiftie and trying to get tickets to the Eras tour," Rep. Kelly Moller told colleagues on the House Judiciary Committee.
"And it wasn’t just me. There were a lot of people who had difficulty, too. I think the amount of productivity in the U.S. that day with people trying to get tickets while they were at work or school was probably really poor."
Moller’s bill would require ticket sellers to disclose the full price of a ticket, including fees, before they make the decision to purchase a ticket. There are some sites that display the cost of a seat as the price "plus fees" but the fees aren’t displayed until you take the next step.
They can include service fees, processing fees, venue fees, ticket delivery fees and taxes.
"When you select a ticket, you often don't see those fees until you get to the very end, and then you have two minutes to make a decision and then you're going to lose your spot."
She says she’s been consulting with music venues and online ticketing companies. Her bill would apply to any event with online ticket sales, whether sports, music, comedy or drama.
"Regardless of what kind of tickets you’re trying to get, you as a consumer and all of Minnesota consumers deserve transparency in that process and fairness in that process, and that's what we're trying to achieve."
Moller's bill would also require ticket resellers to disclose more clearly who they are. It would also ban the use of stand-ins to secure tickets for the express purpose of reselling them, where prohibited by the venue.
"We're going to prevent misleading practices on re-sell sites that make the consumer think they're buying it from the actual seller, the original seller," Moller explained.
"It bans speculative ticketing, and that’s the process where tickets go on sale before they’re actually offered to anyone else or they’re presented as being on sale, and those tickets aren’t even available yet."
The legislation would also require ticket sellers to report to the Minnesota Department of Commerce whenever they detect bots that are being used to scoop up seats Moller noted that Ticketmaster and similar operations have taken steps to block bots, often operating from offshore accounts. This would add the element of reporting them for possible use in civil actions by the Attorney General.
The House Judiciary committee passed the bill on a voice vote and sent it to the House Commerce Committee, but not before a few more words about Taylor Swift.
Or more like play on words.
Legislators effortlessly dropped the superstar’s iconic song titles into their conversation.
Rep. Peggy Scott: "As a fan of the world champion Kansas City Chiefs, I've had my fill of Swifties!"
Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn: "Representative Scott, why do you got to be so mean?"
Rep. Moller: "Representative Scott, I can tolerate it."
And, as she called for the final voice vote, Rep. Becker-Finn added an extra line.
"All those in favor please say aye. Opposed? Motion prevails. Sorry. Not sorry."
And, yes, Rep. Moller’s bill is House File 1989. That's the year Taylor Swift was born and the title of one of her biggest albums.