SALT LAKE CITY — Whether you are 21, 50 or 90 years old, you will now need to show ID to purchase alcohol anywhere in Utah.
The tough new liquor law goes into effect on New Year's Day, doing away with an old law that offered a little discretion for bars.
"If you appeared under 35, you had to get ID'd," said Dave Morris, the owner of Handle Bar in Salt Lake City. "If you appeared over 35? it was up to the discretion of the door guy whether you had to get scanned."
Most bars in Utah already do ID checks anyway. But the new liquor law requires a mandatory 100% ID check at any place that sells alcohol across the state.
"Everyone who is purchasing alcohol in Utah no matter where you are, whether it’s a grocery store, convenience store, bar, anywhere prepare to have your ID checked. Regardless of age, appearance, prepare to have your ID checked," said Michelle Schmitt, a spokesperson for Utah's Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services, the state agency that controls the sale and supply of alcohol.
The law passed in the Utah State Legislature earlier this year as part of legislation designed to crack down on extreme DUI cases. It includes a provision that creates a special license for someone who has been designated by a judge as a "restricted" person and forbidden from purchasing alcohol. Those licenses will begin to be issued in January.
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But bar owners have raised concerns about the broader implications of the 100% ID check law. Morris wondered if kitchen staff, delivery drivers or even a bar owner had to ID themselves.
"There’s no exception for anybody written in the law," he told FOX 13 News. "If you read the law it says any individual who comes into a bar has to get ID'd. So I’m an individual, I'm the owner, do I have to get ID'd? Does this open me up for a violation?"
Utah liquor licenses are issued by the state and highly-controlled. Violations can result in fines, mandatory shutdowns or revocation, which puts a bar out of business entirely. In response to FOX 13 News' questions about who the law applies to, the DABS said it would only be "customers."
"Even repeat customers," Schmitt said. "If the person checking IDs at the door knows the customer, they come in once a week, they come in every day, they need to check their ID 100% of the time. They key distinction we want to make sure everyone who sells and serves alcohol in Utah is also doing a visual check on the ID."
Schmitt said it would also no longer matter whether the person is visibly older than the legal drinking age of 21 or even 35 under the old law.
"If you’re going to pick up a six pack of beer at your local grocery store and you are 75 years-old? Bring your ID," she said. "Expect to have that ID checked and then you should have no problems."
Bar patrons FOX 13 News spoke with had mixed feelings about the law. Kurt Wilhelm said he was "not a fan."
"Responsible drinkers that routinely give patronage to a place like this? They want to feel as if they’re walking into a familiar place every time they come in. I think being asked to ID themselves every single time takes away some of that personal relationship," he said.
But Darin Brooks said he didn't have a problem with it.
"I love it. It should be normal anyways to be honest with you, just because of things that have happened lately," he said. "Wrong way drivers. So I think it’s a really good thing."
Some hospitality groups have raised concerns the new law is hostile to foreign tourists. Utah law has long required a foreign visitor to present a passport, refusing to accept a foreign driver license.
Michele Corigliano, the head of the Salt Lake Area Restaurant Association, said the group was supportive of the 100% ID check as "a concept" and has urged all its members with liquor licenses to do that long before the law went into effect. However, she said SLARA would like to see the Utah State Legislature tweak the new law to allow for foreign driver licenses instead of a passport and not requiring restaurants to scan guests unless they're in a drink dispensing area.
Morris said he worried the law would be "unintentionally hostile" to tourists as Utah gets set to host the Olympics again in 2034.
"Most of us do already ID 100%. But taking the human equation out of — can you be rational? 'I’m 70 years old, I'm from Germany, I left my passport at the Stein Erikson Lodge and I came all the way down here and now I can’t get a beer!'" he said of what a tourist might perceive of the new law. "Like, one star on Yelp. Utah's going to get one star on Yelp!"
And if you think a mobile ID issued by the state of Utah for your phone would work instead of a physical card? It would depend on where you go and if the establishment has the technology to scan them. Most bars and restaurants have not upgraded to allow for a mobile ID. State-run liquor stores operated by the DABS also do not accept them.
