California AB 1720 Dies in Senate Committee After StubHub's Record Lobbying Effort
California Assembly Bill 1720, which sought to cap concert ticket resale prices at 10% above face value, failed to advance out of the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 13, 2026. The bill, introduced by Assembly Member Matt Haney in February, was significantly amended to apply only to venues with a capacity of 3,000 or fewer, excluding major arena and stadium events. Despite support from artists and venue associations, the legislation faced intense opposition from secondary ticketing platforms, most notably StubHub, which spent a record $3.4 million lobbying against the measure in California this year. While the bill failed in California, similar legislation has passed in Maine, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., and is pending in Massachusetts.
