Morris said he's had tourists leave his club after being told they had to buy a membership. A German couple, he said, didn't know enough English to understand what a membership even was. "They knew how to say 'burger' and they knew how to say 'beer.' They walked away."

He said doing away with applications and fees would free up club employees to spend more time checking IDs to keep out underage drinkers and monitor alcohol consumption to ensure customers don't leave drunk.

"It's distracting from what's really important," Morris said of the requirements, "and that is public safety."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has a longstanding interest in liquor laws and counsels its members to avoid alcohol, issued a statement last fall on the private club issue that detailed concerns about overconsumption and underage drinking.

But the church statement also said "Utahns, including those who work in the hospitality industry, can come together ... to support laws and regulations that allow individual freedom of choice while preserving Utah's proven health and safety record on limiting the tragic consequences of overconsumption of alcohol."

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