SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Read their lips - no liquor privatization in Utah.
Utah lawmakers unveiled two new alcohol bills Wednesday.
But despite strong interest from the public, neither bill calls for private businesses to take over the selling of booze in the state.
Now, privatization seemed all the legislative rage last year.
Sure, some said, get rid of the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control and let private operators sell alcohol.
But now, we fast forward to what happened Wednesday.
It's called reality.
Responding to a question by ABC 4, Rep. Ryan Wilcox – one of the sponsors of the two main alcohol bills - said,
“There is no piece of privatization in either bill."
Nope.
No privatization in Representative Ryan Wilcox's bill nor in the one sponsored by Senator John Valentine.
Instead, as ABC 4 first reported Monday, the DABC Commission will be expanded to seven members and a new DABC auditing division will be created.
As Senator Valentine put it Wednesday,
"Now, we have clear lines of responsibility. We have clear lines of who reports to whom."
Well, as you might imagine, these new bills kind of leave drinkers high and dry.
No privatization, no flood of new liquor licenses for bars and restaurants.
This fact was not lost on the Democratic Senate Minority Leader.
Sen. Ross Romero: "I don't think we're accommodating the responsible drinker and I think that is an area we are still missing."
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