Utah Opens Bars to Public, Increases Liability Coverage Requirements

Utah bar owners will soon have to increase their liability coverage, as getting into a bar is becoming easier. The state’s legislative leaders and Gov. Jon Huntsman agreed to eliminate the state’s much-criticized private club system.

Utah is the only state in the country that requires someone to fill out an application and pay a fee for the right to enter a bar unless he or she is the guest of a member on the premises.

Under the agreement approved unanimously by the state Senate, bars could open their doors to the public July 1. A nearly identical version was approved 66-8 in the state House.

“This is a crossroads,” said Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, sponsor of one of the bills. “We shed some of the misconceptions about our liquor laws while actually strengthening them and modernizing them.”

Huntsman has been pushing to eliminate the 40-year-old system to boost tourism and make Utah seem a little less odd to outsiders.

In exchange, the state’s DUI laws will become more strict, bar owners’ liability coverage will double and anyone who looks younger than 35 will have their driver’s licenses scanned before entering a bar to make sure they’re 21 or older and their ID is real. Bars would retain on site for seven days an electronic record of scanned licenses.

The Utah Hospitality Association, which represents the state’s bar industry, had been pushing for the private club system’s demise and was prepared to take it to the vote of a people through a referendum if lawmakers didn’t come to an agreement.

Bars have long complained that memberships are an unnecessary hassle that only annoy customers and distract bouncers who they say have bigger things to worry about than membership forms.

However, morality groups, conservative lawmakers and Mothers Against Drunk Driving’s Utah chapter had contended that memberships reduced underage drinking and driving under the influence because it made getting into multiple bars in a single day expensive and time consuming.

In Utah, anyone who pays at least $4 and fills out an application at the door can become a club member for three weeks. Annual membership costs at least $12. Each bar has a separate membership.