Blackburn Praises Commerce Committee’s Passage of Her Bills to Protect Consumers in the Online Ticket Marketplace and Enhance 9-1-1 Emergency Response System

Blackburn Praises Commerce Committee’s Passage of Her Bills to Protect Consumers in the Online Ticket Marketplace and Enhance 9-1-1 Emergency Response System
May 5, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C.
– U.S. Senator
Marsha Blackburn
(R-Tenn.) released the following statement after her bipartisan
Mitigating Automated Internet Networks for
(
MAIN
)
Event Ticketing Act
to strengthen consumer protections in the online ticket marketplace
and
Enhancing First Response Act
to update the classification of 9-1-1 dispatchers passed out of the Senate Commerce Committee:
“Fans shouldn’t have to fight bots and scammers when trying to buy tickets online, and I’m thrilled the Commerce Committee has moved the MAIN Event Ticketing Act one step closer to becoming law so we can protect consumers in the online ticket marketplace. The Commerce Committee also passed my bipartisan Enhancing First Response Act, which would make important updates to our 9-1-1 emergency reporting system and prevent service disruptions,”
said Senator Blackburn
.
MAIN EVENT TICKETING ACT
In 2016, President Obama signed Senator Blackburn’s legislation, the
Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act
, into law, which prohibits ticket scalpers from using software to purchase high volumes of tickets.
The
MAIN Event Ticketing Act
would build upon the
BOTS Act
by:
Creating reporting requirements
whereby online ticket sellers must report successful bot attacks to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC);
Requiring the FTC to share consumer complaints
submitted through their website to state attorneys general;
Enacting data security requirements
for online ticket sellers and requires the sharing of information between the FTC and law enforcement; and
Requiring a report to Congress
on BOTS enforcement.
The
MAIN Event Ticketing Act
is co-sponsored by U.S. Senator
Ben Ray Luján
(D-N.M.).
Click
here
for bill text.
ENHANCING FIRST RESPONSE ACT
The
Enhancing First Response Act
would:
Update the classification of 9-1-1 dispatchers
in the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) from clerical workers to protective service workers to better reflect life-saving work performed by them each day;
Require the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to hold an annual hearing and issue a report
after major natural disasters on 9-1-1 unreachability and make recommendations to improve the resiliency of 9-1-1 systems to prevent future service disruptions;
Require the FCC to study
unreported 9-1-1 outages and develop recommendations to improve outage reporting and communication between mobile carriers experiencing network outages and 9-1-1 centers.
The
Enhancing First Response Act
is sponsored by U.S. Senator
Amy Klobuchar
(D-Minn.).
Click
here
for bill text.
RELATED
Blackburn Introduces Bills to Increase Music Tourism, Combat Bots in the Online Ticket Marketplace, and Support Independent Music Creators
Klobuchar, Blackburn Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Enhance 9-1-1 Emergency Response System
https://www.blackburn.senate.gov/2025/5/crime/blackburn-praises-commerce-committee-s-passage-of-her-bills-to-protect-consumers-in-the-online-ticket-marketplace-and-enhance-9-1-1-emergency-response-system