Most Utahns back scrapping private-club rules

A majority of Utahns agree with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. that private club membership requirements should be eliminated and even more believe minors should be banned from the bar areas of restaurants, a new poll shows.

Huntsman has long called for easing Utah's liquor laws to make the state more tourist-friendly. His latest proposal is to do away with applications and fees required to join private clubs, Utah's equivalent of bars.

Facing opposition from Senate Republicans, the governor has offered a compromise package that includes making the bar areas of restaurants off limits to underage customers, as is the case in many states.

Utahns like both ideas, according to a new Deseret News/KSL-TV poll by Dan Jones & Associates. The survey found that 58 percent support eliminating private club membership requirements and 67 percent back the ban on minors from the bar areas of restaurants.

The statewide survey, conducted of 413 Utahns Jan. 15-17, has a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent.

Huntsman said he wasn't surprised at the results.

"I think the public is in favor, by and large, of moving some of these anachronistic practices into the 21st century," the governor said. "I think they understand the connection to economic development."

Not so fast, said Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, the most vocal opponent of the governor's efforts to loosen liquor laws.

Waddoups said that the governor has yet to secure a Senate sponsor for his proposal. "I think if the governor wants to run that he knows how the system works," the Senate leader said.

He attributed the poll results favoring the elimination of private club membership requirements to widespread "publicity about concerns over how it's impacting tourism. There's not very much information yet about how it's affecting underage drinking or overindulgence."

But Waddoups said there is room for compromise. He likes, for example, the governor's proposal to ban minors from the bar areas of restaurants. Waddoups has complained that some restaurants aren't doing enough to separate drink preparations from underage customers.

As for private club membership requirements, he said, "There are some possible alternatives, such as better ID-ing patrons and things like that. I think all that plays into maybe a better way to do this."