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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Utah Senate has approved a bill that would allow restaurants to prepare alcoholic drinks in full view of customers.
The proposal passed Wednesday afternoon would allow restaurants to stop using barriers, often a glass wall or back room, if they instead set up a child-free buffer zone around their bar.
The barriers, nicknamed "Zion Curtain" as a reference to the teetotaling members Mormon church, have been around in some form for a decade and are currently required for restaurants generally built after 2009. It's a compromise from the state's last major relaxing of liquor laws.
Senators voted 20-9 to approve the measure, with a bipartisan mix of lawmakers supporting and opposing. The proposal now returns to the House of Representatives, where members must approve some small changes.
Republican Gov. Gary Herbert says he supports the bill.
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