By Chris Castle

Coming soon to a state house near you, it looks like the StubHubs and SeatGeeks of this world are at it again. Readers will remember the “Trouble with Ticketing” panel at the Artist Rights Symposium last year and our discussion of the model “Scalpers’ Bill of Rights” that had been introduced at ALEC shortly before the panel convened.

A quick update, the “model” bill was so bad it couldn’t even get support at ALEC, which is saying something. However, the very same bill has shown up and been introduced in both the Texas and North Carolina state legislatures. I posted about it on MusicTechPolicy here.

The Texas House bill (HB 3621) is up for a hearing tomorrow. If you live in Texas you can comment and show up for public comments at the Legislature:

Submit Written Testimony (must be a Texas resident):
• Submit here: https://comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c473
• Select HB 3621 by Bumgarner
• Keep comments under 3,000 characters

Testify In Person at the Capitol in Austin:
• Hearing Date: Wednesday, April 23 at 8:00 AM CT
• Location: Room E2.014, Texas Capitol
• Register here: https://house.texas.gov/committees/witness-registration
• You must create an account in advance: https://hwrspublicprofile.house.texas.gov/CreateAccount.aspx

ARI has submitted written comments through the Texas House comment portal, but we’re also sending the letter below to the committee so that we can add the color commentary and spin out the whole sordid tale of how this bill came to exist.