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Show Tourism groups work to change Utah's liquor laws by JANICE PERRY Record Editor A coalition of tourism-industry groups has mounted a second attempt to chip away at Utah's liquor laws to make it easier for visitors to get a drink. The proposed revisions would allow restaurant waiters or waitresses waitress-es to bring mini-bottles to the diner's table along with the set-ups, would permit localities to determine the number of "package stores" needed and a third provision would eliminate the disparity in times when liquor can be served at private clubs and restaurants. Debby Symonds, executive director direc-tor of the Park City Chamber of CommerceConvention and Visitors . Bureau, said the effort by the Utah Tourism Industry Coalition is its second sec-ond attempt to whittle away at the restrictive laws that give tourists the perception that it is hard to get a drink in Utah. . ' Symonds, who is treasurer of the coalition, said the group made a conscious decision to seek individual changes in the law, rather than attempting a major revision. "Rather than go for everything at once, we decided to go after changes oa a piecemeal basis," she said. Industry representatives who later formed the coalition sat down with the Utah Liquor Control Commission last year to discuss changes. "We asked them what kinds of liquor law changes out of the legislature we can expect," she said, noting that at the time members knew Scott Matheson was leaving and he would have a Republican successor. That effort last year resulted in several tourism-oriented changes in the code. One change allows three-day licenses to be issued for cash bars at gatherings such as conventions or charitable functions. Three are allowed per year per group. . Another change allows restaurants to serve win in 750-milliliter fifths in addition to the tenths, or 350-milli-liter "splits" previously allowed. The changes were incorporated in the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act, a recodification of Utah's liquor laws passed by the Utah Legislature last winter. It became law July 1 . "This year, we knew that the interim committee meetings were coming up, so we went back to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission Com-mission and said, 'these are the modifications we're interested in,' " Symonds said. Those proposed changes, which were dropped from the revision last winter, were submitted to the Legislature's Business, Labor and Economic Development Interim Committee, causing many committee commit-tee members to squirm over the prospect of another liquor-law controversy. After some committee members accused others of avoiding the issue, a temporary compromise was reached, reach-ed, in which lawmakers agreed to ask the Citizens Advisory Council on Liquor Control to review the proposals. pro-posals. In earlier meetings, the advisory council supported the changes "by 100 percent," said Ron Morgan, director of the Utah Restaurant Association. But the minutes of that meeting do not bear out Morgan's assertion, said Joe Coccimiglio, state liquor licensing and compliance manager. He said the minutes only reflected the council's acknowledgement of the group's concerns about the issues and its intent to study them. He noted Gov. Norm Bangerter will be appointing three new members to the seven-person panel. The proposals would greatly aid high-tourism areas in Utah, Symonds Sym-onds said. One proposal would let cities, towns and counties in the case of. unincorporated areas decide how many "package agency" permits should be issued in their areas. The package agency is the small liquor store within a restaurant. The intent is to allow high-tourism areas, such as Park City, increase the numbers, if needed, to meet visitors' demand. Another proposal would give restaurants parity of sorts with private clubs, in eliminating some restrictions on when liquor may be sold. Restaurants now cannot sell liquor until 4 p.m., while private clubs may sell wine and liquor at 10 a.m. But perhaps the most important proposed change would eliminate the requirement that a restaurant diner go to a window or counter to separately purchase mini-bottles to mix with set-ups.. That bill would allow the person serving the food and set-ups also to , bring the unopened mini-bottle or bottle of wine to the table with the drink set-ups. The changes could be controversial controver-sial if Don Beck from the Utah Licensed Club Association raises a fuss, Symonds said. And Beck does object. "Presently, the (Utah Alcoholic Beverage Control) Commission is doing a great job," he said. "I don't want to see local authorities creating problems by being involved with liquor permits." Owners of private clubs fear a loss of business if restaurants are allowed to serve alcoholic drinks earlier in the day. But Symonds maintains that an improvement for one sector of Park City's food industry benefits all. "We don't have a sense of competition in Park City like you do in Salt Lake City," Symonds said. "The food and beverage operations in Park City have a good understanding understand-ing that the more you make liquor laws understandable to tourists, the better it would be for everybody's sake." Spearheading the coalition effort is Dene Kamsler, director of the Utah Hotel-motel Association. She told the legislative committee last Wednesday Wed-nesday that as many as 25 applicants monthly seek up to three package agency licenses available by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission. Com-mission. She said that creates an "unfair disadvantage" for those firms, although she noted that the new law effective July 1 did raise the statewide quota for package agency licenses by 13 and gave the commission commis-sion some flexibility. |