Companies that profit from the resale of tickets in Massachusetts are taking another run at scrapping the state’s antiquated ticket scalping law and replacing it with a measure that would place few restrictions on the resale of tickets.

The last time ticket resellers made a bid to rewrite the law it ended in scandal. The bill passed the House but died in the Senate in 2008 amid allegations that ticket brokers paid $60,000 to Richard Vitale to use his influence with then-Speaker Sal DiMasi and other House leaders to win passage of the legislation. Vitale, DiMasi’s former accountant and campaign treasurer, is currently facing charges of failing to register as a lobbyist and violating campaign finance laws. That case has been overshadowed until now by the trial of DiMasi, Vitale, and others on federal charges related to the state’s purchase of software. DiMasi and two others were found guilty, but Vitale was not convicted.

What got lost amid the scandal is that the state’s current law covering ticket resales is a mess. The law limits ticket resellers to charging no more than $2 above face value plus certain expenses, but the language covering expenses is so vague that the law has become virtually unenforceable. As a result, ticket resellers act as if there is no law.

The legislative response in 2007 and again now has been to eliminate any cap on the price of resold tickets while offering consumers some protections, including toll-free numbers to make complaints and refunds if an event or ticket is canceled.

State Rep. Michael Moran of Brighton, who filed the pending bill, said he believes ticket holders should be able to resell tickets they can’t use. He acknowledged his bill places no cap on resale prices, but he said some type of limit might be acceptable to him. He also said the controversy surrounding the bill in 2007 should not taint his efforts this time.

“To me, it’s not a matter of who lobbied what last time. It’s the substance of the issue,” he said. “I think this is a pro-consumer piece of legislation.”

The bill has the strong backing of San Francisco-based StubHub, the online marketplace for buyers and sellers of tickets. Chris Tsakalakis, the president of StubHub, said in an interview that Massachusetts is one of only five states with a law restricting how much ticket resellers can charge. The other states are Kentucky, Rhode Island, Arkansas, and Michigan.

“I fully support the right of anyone to sell their tickets at whatever price they want,” he said.

One provision being pushed by StubHub, which has retained local lobbyist Lisa Simonetti, would bar concert and sports venues from taking steps to prevent their customers from reselling their tickets. That could range from restrictions on resales to the use of so-called paperless tickets, which require the original ticket purchaser to appear in person with the credit card they used to make their purchase in order to gain entrance to an event.

Some of the state’s professional sports teams have fought ticket resellers in the past but with limited success. For example, the New England Patriots sued StubHub in 2006, alleging the company was encouraging fans to violate the state’s anti-scalping law. The case was settled in 2009, with both sides saying their positions had not changed.

The Boston Red Sox for years offered season ticket holders a way to resell unwanted tickets at face value, but the service attracted few customers. In 2008, the Sox signed a deal making Ace Ticket, a prominent local ticket broker, one of their corporate sponsors, an acknowledgment that the resale marketplace had outrun the state’s anti-scalping law.

StubHub signed a partnership with Major League Baseball in 2007 to handle all of the league’s online ticket resales. The Red Sox initially refused to participate, but during the 2010 season the team joined the rest of professional baseball in steering customers seeking to resell tickets to StubHub.

“After considerable deliberation, we decided to opt in in 2010 because it was necessary for us to be able to provide our season ticket holders with a safe and secure online system for them to sell their tickets to games they are unable to attend,” said Susan Goodenow, the team’s senior vice president for public affairs and marketing, in an email.

Asked whether the partnership with StubHub complies with the existing Massachusetts anti-scalping law, Goodenow said that question should be posed to Major League Baseball. Asked if the club would take a stance on Moran’s bill, Goodenow declined comment.

A spokesman for Major League Baseball could not be reached for comment.