Utah’s old fashioned liquor laws have less to do with how Utahns think about alchohol and more to do with how their elected leaders think. A poll published this week by UtahPolicy, a political news site, showed some 62% of Utahns support removing the Zion Curtain, while 31% want to keep it in place. The Zion Curtain is the popular name given to the physical barrier restaurants are required to have that ensures alcoholic drinks are poured and mixed out of the public eye before being delivered to a diner’s table.
The new poll results diverge significantly from the legislature’s views on the Zion Curtain. During the 2014 legislative session, a bill by Rep. Kraig Powell, a Republican from Heber, passed favorably out of committee, but never came to a vote in either the State House or Senate. Legislators now have some fairly compelling data for how they should vote if a similar bill comes before the body again in 2015. The legislature didn’t listen during their last session, will they listen during the next?
