For a while, it looked like Senate Republicans were going to play the role of bouncer -- turning away at the State Capitol door Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s proposal to repeal Utah's private club law.
But the resistance to the governor's proposal appears to be softening as senators warm to technology that would electronically check driver licenses as an alternative to Utah's arcane private club membership requirement.
Senate President Michael Waddoups met last week with representatives of two vendors of the electronic scan equipment, and said he was impressed with what he saw.
"I see some real possibilities in their technology," said Waddoups. He has other meetings scheduled with other card-swipe companies as he continues to explore the technology, but his initial review is it would "be a big step on underage drinking."
That would come as good news to Utah's bar owners and hospitality industry, as well as to a majority of Utah voters.
Fifty-one percent of Utah registered voters said in a recent poll by The Salt Lake Tribune that they would support doing away with private clubs. Thirty-one percent of respondents favored keeping private clubs and 18 percent were undecided.
The poll was conducted before legislative leaders met with officials from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- whose members make up more than 80 percent of the Legislature -- and were told by church leaders there is merit to the proposal to scan driver licenses.
Forty-two percent of self-identified LDS members in the poll supported repealing the private-club law; 37 percent opposed it and 21 percent were undecided. Those figures have a higher margin of error because the LDS respondents made up a portion of the overall sample.
"I'm surprised you got that many opposed to it," said David Morris, owner of Piper Down, a bar in Salt Lake City. "I thought it would be overwhelming … but I'm biased. The whole thing is so ridiculous that it makes zero sense to me."
In the coming weeks, different versions of the private-club repeal are expected to be unveiled. One of them will be sponsored by Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, who says he will only push his bill if he can reach a consensus in the Legislature.
"We think there's a way to craft good public policy and address some of the misperception about Utah and an issue that may affect tourism in the current statute," he said.
Since Huntsman was first elected in 2004, reforming the state's alcohol policy to make it more tourist-friendly has been on his agenda. Last year, he convinced the Legislature to let restaurants pour stronger drinks, comparable to what could be purchased in other states.
He says the private club change is another step in making the state more visitor-friendly.
"What we're trying to do here is in a sense mainstream a lot of these policies that are somewhat anachronistic," he said earlier this month on his monthly KUED news conference.
Waddoups says he has three concerns -- preventing underage drinking, reducing overconsumption and stopping drunken driving.
"Anything that will allow us to meet those goals, I'm willing to look at, and if we have the side benefit of increased tourism … so much the better," Waddoups said.
