For over thirty years, Utah has been the home of some of the country's strictest drinking laws. One of these laws 'and perhaps the most controversial- required all Utah bars to be private clubs. Anyone wishing to drink at one of these private clubs had to purchase a membership. However, Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. has just signed a bill that will abolish the private clubs and allow bars to be bars, so to speak. Tourism officials in Utah believe the new law will have a positive impact on the tourism industry and allow the state to be on a more level playing field with competition.



Along with repealing the private club requirement, Senate Bill 187 also abolishes the law which prevented bartenders and servers from passing drinks across the restaurant bar. In addition, the bill has increased the liability for bars that serve customers who subsequently cause traffic accidents from drunk driving. The law also requires new restaurants that serve alcohol to mix the drinks out of the sight of underage customers. Concessions were made as the 213-page bill was written. Once the bill comes into effect, bar owners will be required to install driver license scanners and scan the licenses of anyone who appears to be under the age of 35. The scanners will store the data of the driver licenses for seven days in order to assist police investigation in any potential alcohol-related crimes.

As is the case with most acts of legislation, Utah's new liquor bill has its supporters and opponents. Among the most prominent voices of dissent is the advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD). Utah's chapter of MADD advocated for some strict requirements as lawmakers were working on the intricacies of the bill. The chapter composed a list of "must haves" for the new bill, but a review by the Associated Press showed that almost all of the proposals were not endorsed by the national MADD organization.

Some positions of Utah's chapter that are not congruent with the national MADD organization include banning bars from restaurants and keeping hotel bars away from the view of the public. Utah's chapter also pushed for proposals that would require bars to have surveillance cameras and state liquor stores to sell beer, wine and liquor at room temperature. The national MADD organization worries that these proposals will inaccurately depict the organization as prohibitionist.

MADD's Utah chapter formed these policies into a position paper and distributed it to lawmakers as they worked on the bill. Although these concessions did not make it into the bill, MADD agreed to not publicly oppose the new law. Governor Hunstman signed this controversial bill into law on Monday, March 30.