|
Happy Friday! Wayne Schutsky here from KJZZ’s Politics Desk. In case you missed it, Taylor Swift and her boyfriend have dominated headlines over the past few weeks. So with a little help from Republican Rep. David Cook, I decided to engage in a psy-op of our own to attract more attention for your local public radio station!
Earlier this year, I highlighted two pieces of legislation that Cook, a cattle rancher from Globe, cheekily dubbed his “Taylor Swift bills.”
The bills are an attempt to create a better consumer experience for concertgoers by banning ticket-buying bots and speculative ticket sales on the secondhand market.
Over the past few weeks, I took a deeper dive into the bills by speaking with the venue owners and Swiftie moms who are on the front lines in the bot wars, and trying to figure out why Cook’s bills are necessary in the first place after Congress passed a federal bot ban in 2016.
Cook took that as an opportunity to call out the feds for failing to protect consumers. Despite the obvious politics at play – a state GOP lawmaker criticizing the Biden administration is nothing new – there is some truth to his criticism.
Industry folks – from Ticketmaster to a small venue owner in Phoenix – agree that the federal BOTS Act has not done much to rein in bots, speculative ticket sales and skyrocketing prices.
If Cook’s bills make it into law, Arizona will join states like Washington, Texas and Michigan that decided to take the issue into their own hands. And there seems to be a bipartisan consensus at the Arizona House that something needs to be done, with multiple Democrats co-sponsoring Cook's bills.
Even Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs said the proposals sound like something she could get on board with. And she heartily endorsed Cook’s plan to invite Swift to a potential bill-signing ceremony.
So far, Cook’s bills have received a mostly positive reception in the Arizona House but are still awaiting final votes in both chambers.
— Wayne Schutsky, field correspondent
| 
