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SALT LAKE CITY -- Text messaging and driving at the same time will be illegal, starting on Tuesday. That's just one of more than 300 new state laws going into effect. Not only did the Legislature crack down on texting drivers this year, but repeat drunk drivers, too.
Tuesday, May 12 is the day 319 new laws go into effect. One of them is the first of a series of crackdowns on drunk drivers. Repeat offenders won't just have their cars impounded: The car will be taken away.
Rep. Christopher Herrod, R-Provo, said, "If it's impounded, you just pay your impound fees and get your car back. If it's forfeited, then you actually lose your vehicle and the state takes possession of it."
The forfeiture law is one of a package of bills connected to eliminating private clubs in Utah. Part of Utah's new liquor laws include taking down the "Zion Curtain." Many restaurants are saying those glass partitions are coming down from their bars right away, although some owners say because it's an expensive piece of glass, it will stay.
There is a trade-off. Restaurants will have to keep people under 21 out of their bar areas or prepare drinks out of sight.
There are also incentives for existing restaurants to put up opaque barriers around where they store and dispense their alcohol; nobody has taken the state up on that offer yet.
Owners of yet-to-be built restaurants serving children will not be allowed to have a bar.
The private clubs membership requirement will be eliminated on July 1. So will additional anti-DUI laws.
Herrod explained, "We do need to bring the culture that people do not drink and drive. It's just, they do not mix."
The Legislature also decided text messaging and driving don't mix. That's going to be illegal, although law enforcement is not sure of the immediate effect.
Utah Highway Patrol spokesman Jeff Nigbur said, "There's been a lot of concern whether that is, in fact, enforceable. If you're able to stop someone for that and to answer that, the texting law is a primary law."
Another tough to enforce new law makes it illegal to get tobacco products off the Internet, phone or mail order. The attorney general has contacted hundreds of vendors, warning them to stop shipping to Utah.
Other new laws include:
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Story compiled with contributions from Richard Piatt and Andrew Adams.
