Many states have similar provisions, says sponsor of liquor reform bill

March 6, 2017 Utah Channel 3

ST. GEORGE — Members of the Utah House of Representatives passed the second substitute of a massive liquor reform bill Friday.

The proposed Alcohol Amendments legislation, first designated as HB 442 and now HB 442-S2 for the second substitute bill, is sponsored by Utah House Majority Leader Brad Wilson, R-Layton. It was introduced Feb. 27 and revised on Feb. 28 before being approved by the House Business and Labor Standing Committee on Wednesday.

Before discussion Friday, the second substitute was approved by the House. One of the changes, Wilson said, is the phasing in of implementation for dining clubs to qualify under a “restaurant” liquor license, extending the time an establishment would have to reach the benchmark of 70 percent food sales versus alcohol sales.

Other changes, Wilson said, include adding an eighth member to the Division of Alcohol and Beverage Control Advisory Committee from the restaurant industry and delaying the off-premise licensee components for an additional year.

“This has been a great exercise in collaboration and trying to find balance between a lot of different parties and interest groups,” Wilson said before the final vote on the bill, “which I think have all worked very well together to try to find common space.”

Wilson clarified several points of the bill, including the fact that changes had been made to accommodate resorts that may have multiple types of licenses, a concern raised by a representative of Snowbird Ski Resort at Wednesday’s committee hearing.

“It allows them to continue their current practice,” Wilson said.

Rep. Patrice Arent, D-Millcreek, said that while she believed the bill was “an improvement over the current law,” she still had questions regarding the basic premise that she feels have never been addressed. She said:

The basic premise of this bill… is that it is dangerous and a problem if children watch drinks being mixed. So over the years, I have asked, and I have asked, and I have asked, where is the data? Where are the studies? … but no one has ever given me the data that I have asked for over all of these years.

While not specifically addressing Arent by name, Rep. Mike Noel, R-Kanab, addressed the issue of a connection using his own experience. Noel said that in addition to spending many years working with alcoholics, both he and his wife were “adult children of alcoholics” and that they both had several other family members who were alcoholics.

Noel cited his own experiences seeing his father drink and the “enamored effect” of children seeing drinking as leading to his own past problems with alcohol.

“To say that this doesn’t create problems and to say that there’s not a cause and effect I think is really not correct,” Noel said. “It’s a very simple thing: Don’t allow children to get enamored by it. … Whenever we change alcohol laws, we should move forward in a very deliberate manner to protect the most vulnerable in our society, which are our children, so I appreciate this bill.”

Rep. Brian King, D-Salt Lake City, also addressed the question of changing the laws in his comments. He said:

Regulations that we impose at the state level should be rationally related to three particular distinct and specific issues involving drinking. They should decrease underage drinking, they should decrease overconsumption – or at deal at least with the issues involved in overconsumption – and they should deal with the reality that the existence of alcohol in our state carries with it some degree of driving while under the influence and the public safety hazards that are attached to that.

King said that he shares the concerns of others who had brought up the question of whether Utah should continue to have regulation of establishments serving alcohol that isn’t rationally related to one of those issues but ultimately also called the bill “a movement in the right direction.”

In his summation, Wilson said Utah wasn’t alone in these types of regulations, listing 15 specific states “and others that all believe that children shouldn’t be right next to a bar.” Utah’s neighbors of Arizona, Idaho and Wyoming were among the states he listed.

HB 442-S2 passed the House by a vote of 58-10, with seven members absent or not voting. All Southern Utah representatives voted in favor of the bill, with the exception of Reps. Jon Stanard and Walt Brooks, who were among those absent or not voting.

Resources

Read the bill: 2017 HB 442-Substitute 2 – Alcohol Amendments | Original version: 2017 HB 442 – as introduced – Alcohol Amendments
Contact legislators:
- Bill sponsor: Brad Wilson
- Southern Utah Sens. Ralph Okerlund, Don Ipson, Evan Vickers and David Hinkins | Listing of all senators.
- Southern Utah Reps. Walt Brooks, Merrill Nelson, Brad Last, John Westwood, Mike Noel, V. Lowry Snow and Jon Stanard | Listing of all members of the House of Representatives

Email: pdail@stgnews.com

Twitter: @STGnews