Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1349 on Sunday, making California the latest state to outlaw speculative — or "ghost" — ticket listings, the practice of selling seats a reseller doesn't yet own. But the governor attached a signing message that reads almost like a note to the editor: he likes the concept, he doesn't love the final draft, and he wants the author back at the table next year.

"Buying a ticket shouldn't come with hidden risks or unfair practices," Newsom posted on X after signing.

The bill, authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D), arrives on the governor's desk looking very different from the version that sailed out of the Assembly 66-0 in January. After seven months of Senate rewrites — including a final amendment filed at 11:45 p.m. on Aug. 28 that left the bill eligible for a vote roughly 15 minutes before the session's midnight deadline on Aug. 31 — the measure's original champions had become its loudest critics, and one of its biggest-spending opponents had come around.

In his signing message, Newsom wrote that he shares "the author's concern with problematic practices in both the primary and secondary ticket-selling market," pointing to speculative sales, fees and deceptive advertising.

Then came the caveat. The measure, he wrote, "appears to take an uneven approach allowing select ticket sellers to avoid certain obligations under the bill." He continued: "While there may be good reasons for exempting certain sellers from the bill's provisions, such a carve-out deserves further discussion, and I encourage the author to work with stakeholders to refine this policy."

Newsom didn't name names. He didn't have to. Critics of the final bill have pointed squarely at StubHub and the other resale marketplaces, which are excluded from the definition of a "speculative ticket seller" in the chaptered text.