Recently, restaurateurs who request a license from the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control have been walking away without being served. Last week, at the ABC commission's monthly meeting, three of four applicants for limited licenses that allow beer and wine sales left empty-handed. It's time for the Utah Legislature to stop acting like the Temperance Union and increase the supply of licenses to meet the growing demand.
The limited licenses are issued on a quota system - one license for each 11,000 residents. Of the 244 currently allowed, 243 have been issued, including 44 since August 2006. Only one remains available, along with 19 full-service liquor licenses.
As it stands, the system is unfair to businesses that can't obtain licenses. When a qualified applicant is denied while another is approved, it's discriminatory. And when a restaurateur is forced to serve soft drinks while others pour alcohol, it gives his rivals a decided competitive edge.
And the system is also unfair to consumers. Many diners enjoy a glass of beer or wine with their meal. And they ought to be able to obtain it.
We can't recommend that the state hand out licenses like handbills. After all, this is Utah, and a laissez faire liquor license distribution system will never fly. But the Legislature should at least listen to the market and increase the quota so that applicants who meet the rigorous requirements rightly set down by the state can obtain a license.
Our lawmakers need to realize that problems from alcohol stem from overconsumption, not a glass of white wine or a Miller Lite during meals. If the state were really interested in reducing alcohol-related problems, it would sell as many restaurant liquor licenses as possible to qualified applicants and use the proceeds to educate the public about alcohol abuse.
But if the true goal of our legislators, as many suspect, is to impose their own code of moral conduct on law-abiding citizens, they won't change a thing. The line for a liquor license will get longer, and the business inequities and consumer frustration that go with it will grow.
