BILL NUMBER: S4418A
SPONSOR: MAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the arts and cultural affairs law, in relation to
prohibiting ticket sales that exceed the capacity of a place of enter-
tainment or not-for-profit venue
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill is intended to prohibit entertainment venues from selling or
reselling a number of tickets exceeding the venue's legal maximum occu-
pancy
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 defines the term "sale" and limits the number of tickets for
sale or resale to the establishment's capacity.
Section 2 defines penalties for violations. Section 3 establishes the
effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Venue safety should be the highest level of concern for concerts and
similar planned events are being planned. Unfortunately, a worst case
scenario broke out in March of 2023 at the Armoury in Rochester, where
fears of a noise lead to a stampede, with 3 deaths and many injuries.
There were claims of excess crowd size at this event.(1)
One of the largest keys to safety is that venue capacity rules are
strictly followed. This bill is designed to ensure that promoters are
following capacity standards strictly to prevent episodes in the future.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately with provisions
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/1-dead-8-injured-stampede-glorilla-
concert-new-york-rcna73505

Statutes affected:
S4418: 25.03 arts and cultural affairs law, 25.10 arts and cultural affairs law, 25.17 arts and cultural affairs law, 25.23 arts and cultural affairs law, 25.23(1) arts and cultural affairs law
S4418A: 23.23 arts and cultural affairs law, 23.23(1) arts and cultural affairs law, 23.21 arts and cultural affairs law