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SALT LAKE CITY — A group that promotes tourism in Utah is not happy over the elimination of happy hour.
On the eve of new liquor laws going into effect in Utah, the Utah Hospitality Association filed a federal civil lawsuit against the state.
Starting Friday, clubs and bars in Utah are no longer allowed to give discounts on alcoholic drinks. Next year, liquor licenses for social clubs will be based on the number of public safety officers employed by Utah in addition to population quotas.
The Hospitality Association, along with two John Does — one listed as a local club owner and the other a person denied a club license — filed a lawsuit Thursday listing Gov. Gary Herbert, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and members of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission as defendants.
The bill that made the new laws, SB314, was signed into law by Herbert in March.
If the law is allowed to take effect, the Hospitality Association said it would "significantly harm" the state and visitors, "particularly consumers and the social clubs that operate in the state of Utah," according to court documents.
By not allowing drink specials, the Hospitality Association claims the Sherman Act, which does not allow the resale prices of alcoholic drinks to be fixed, is being violated.
"SB314 amounts to a private price-fixing arrangement," according to court documents.
Unrestricted competition in the market has been restrained, suppressed and eliminated, the association stated.
While the state claims the law was made to promote the state's interest in "temperance" under the 21st Amendment, plaintiffs say fixing the prices on drinks "has no significant effect on the consumption of alcoholic beverages or upon temperance," court documents state.
"Social clubs have been damaged in that the prices they must establish and then to which they must adhere force them to lose significant income. Their consumers must pay more for the products they order," according to the lawsuit.
The Hospitality Association also calls the proposal to allow clubs with existing liquor licenses to sell them privately an "unreasonable restraint" on the trade, considering the scarcity of liquor licenses in Utah, the lawsuit states.
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