Would bar database be akin to Big Brother?

Even though he hasn't ruled out the need for a database of drinkers, Senate President Michael Waddoups said Tuesday he's worried about the state being seen as Big Brother when it comes to regulating alcohol.

Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, said the perception is that lawmakers are ready to "now begin the 'Big Brother,' if you will, supervision of all of the drinkers in Utah" despite having made no decisions about whether to collect information on private club customers.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has called on lawmakers to eliminate private club membership requirements. Private clubs, Utah's equivalent of bars, now require customers to fill out applications and pay a fee before they can enter.

Huntsman told The Associated Press he is opposed to creating a statewide database to track bar patrons, calling that "a rather frightening, almost Orwellian, proposition" that would make the state even less friendly to tourists.

However, Huntsman does not oppose private clubs keeping information collected on their customers and making it available to law enforcement, his spokeswoman, Lisa Roskelley, said, "so long as it is not an indefinite collection of the information."

Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, who will carry the governor's private club bill, has said it will require that clubs regularly purge the information collected on customers.

Waddoups said he's been looking at electronic ID verification systems that would require drinkers to swipe their driver's licenses to prove they're at least 21 years old. Such systems, he said, could store that information for a few hours or a few weeks as a "tool for law enforcement" to help prosecute drunken drivers.

But, Waddoups said, law enforcement officials he's talked with have suggested the database would "not be particularly beneficial." And the Senate leader said he would "have the same concern that most of the public is having, of 'Big Brother' having too much information, a listing of all the people who happen to have a drink."

As for reports that he would like to see the same electronic ID verification system in use in restaurants that serve alcohol, Waddoups said that is "way premature." He said he would support restaurants having the choice to use the system, but added, "I'm not seeing the need" to collect information from drinkers in restaurants.