SB 42: Show Me the Full Ticket Price Before I Click

You click on a $60 ticket. By checkout it costs $91. A bill filed in Austin this week says show me the $91 first.

Plain English summary

Senate Bill 42 was filed on November 9, 2026, the first day of prefiling for the 2027 session. The author is Sen. Judith Zaffirini of Laredo.

The headlines called it a ticket bot bill. It is. But the bot ban is already Texas law. The bill moves it into its own section and keeps it.

The new part is the price.

Under SB 42, any website or app selling or reselling tickets to a concert, game, or show in Texas would have to show the total cost in dollars, fees included, in the listing, before you pick a seat. It would also have to show how much of that total is fees. (FACT, SB 42 introduced text)

That is the all-in price. No surprise at checkout.

Why it matters

Every family in East Texas who has tried to buy tickets for a concert in Dallas or a playoff game knows the routine.

You see a price. You pick the seats. You type in your card. Then the number jumps.

Service fee. Facility fee. Order processing fee. Whatever they want to call it.

By then you already decided. You already told the kids. That is the point of hiding it.

A price you cannot see until the last screen is not a price. It is bait.

The receipt

Here is what the filed text of SB 42 says, section by section. (FACT, SB 42 introduced text, capitol.texas.gov)

• Filed: November 9, 2026. Author: Zaffirini. Caption: "relating to certain disclosures and other requirements relating to the online sale of concert and other event tickets."
• Bots: The bill transfers the current bot ban, Business and Commerce Code Section 328.002, into a new Subchapter B as Section 328.052. A person may not use or create a bot to buy past posted limits, use multiple IP addresses, accounts, or emails to beat limits, get around a queue, waiting period, or presale code, or get around entry security.
• Bot penalties in the bill text: The attorney general may investigate and sue. A person who knowingly violates the bot ban is liable for up to $10,000 per violation. Every ticket transaction counts as a separate violation. Violating a court order can cost up to $100,000. The attorney general can recover costs and attorney's fees.
• All-in price: A new Subchapter C requires a ticket seller to disclose, clearly and conspicuously, in the listing and before the buyer selects a ticket, the total cost in dollars including all fees, and the part of that total that is fees.
• No games with the font: A seller may not show a fee in a false or misleading way. A seller may not show a fee or any piece of the price more prominently than the total, or in the same or a larger font.
• No climbing price: A seller may not raise the total after you pick a ticket. The one exception is a reasonable, disclosed fee for mail or other non-electronic delivery you choose.
• What counts as a fee: Service charges, surcharges, and any other fee tied to the sale. Shipping and taxes are not counted.
• Who it covers: Sales and resales for events held in Texas. Movie theaters are left out unless they host a live event.
• Effective date: September 1, 2027.

What the news said: The San Antonio Current reported SB 42 as a bill aimed at scalping bots with fines up to $10,000. It reported that a similar 2023 bill was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott and that 15 other states have similar laws. (DOCUMENTED INFERENCE, San Antonio Current, Nov. 11, 2026)

What Ryan says

I like this bill. I will say that plain.

I build offers for business owners. Here is what I tell every one of them. Put your real price up front. If your price only works when people cannot see it, your offer is broken.

So I am not worried about the honest sellers. This bill only bites the ones who hide the number.

Now here is my question for Austin. The bot section has teeth in the bill. Investigation, lawsuits, up to $10,000 a ticket. The new price section, as I read the filed text, does not name its own penalty or say who enforces it. (DOCUMENTED INFERENCE, Ryan's reading of the introduced text)

A rule with no enforcer is a suggestion.

If you are going to tell ticket sites to show the full price, write down what happens when they do not. Put it in the bill. Same rule for every seller.

What this does not prove

It does not prove the bill will pass. It was filed. It has no hearing yet.

It does not prove fees will go down. The bill makes sellers show fees. It does not cap them.

It does not prove any company in Texas broke the law. Nothing here accuses anyone of anything.

It does not settle whether other Texas consumer laws already reach hidden fees. The bill itself says it does not change any other law on ticket sales.

What this does prove

The 2027 session already has a bill on the table that would make every ticket site in Texas show the full price before you click.

It proves the bot ban is already law, and SB 42 keeps it.

And it proves the press story and the bill text are not the same thing. The headline said bots. The bill says fees. Read the bill.

The bottom line

Show the full price first.

Write down who enforces it.

Then let the people decide if the seat is worth it.

The record does not lie. Read the bill yourself at capitol.texas.gov.

Do not threaten anyone. Do not harass anyone. Do not contact anyone in my name. Read it. Share it. Send receipts, evidence, witnesses. Put eyes on the record.