SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, March 23, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Thursday afternoon signed the bill making Utah’s DUI threshold the nation’s strictest, changing the state’s Blood Alcohol Content definition of drunk from 0.08 BAC to 0.05 percent.
“I intend to sign HB155 with some caveats,” he said Thursday morning during his month press conference, which was posted on Facebook by KUED. “There are some areas of improvement I think are warranted and are necessary.”
The law lowering the BAC will not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2019, which Herbert said will give time for “more thorough consideration of how this new standard is applied” to drunk drivers.
Herbert plans to call a special session of the Legislature this summer to consider modifications to the bill, he said, so opponents will have “an opportunity to come in and talk about their concerns and maybe the unintended consequences as they see them.”
Herbert said he based his decision on research and concern for public safety. He added that imposing a lower limit does not make Utah “weird.”
But Utah’s strict liquor laws are already seen as weird, according longtime and ongoing complaints from members of the hospitality industry. Representatives from restaurant associations met with lawmakers several times while the bill was being considered.
Among Utah’s unusual liquor laws are those that require a lower alcohol content in beer on tap, that ban privately owned liquor stores, that close the state-owned liquor stores on Sundays and some holidays, that require that restaurant diners who want to order alcohol also order food, and that require the pouring of alcohol away from the view of customers.
The latter, often referred to as the “Zion Curtain” law, was recently eased by legislative action, and in the future will require a spacial buffer zone rather than a vision-blocking wall.
“There is no evidence that it should impact negatively our tourism,” the governor said at the news conference.
Herbert said that 85 percent of the world’s population currently lives in countries with laws requiring a less than 0.05 percent BAC when driving.
The governor also rejected the suggestion that the law is religion based. Utah’s predominate religion — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — prohibits alcohol consumption by its followers, and Herbert is a member of the faith.
According to estimates, more than 60 percent of Utahns are members of the LDS Church, as are almost 90 percent of lawmakers.
Herbert noted that the .05 percent or less blood-alcohol limit is law in Italy.
“There’s not many Mormons in Rome and they’re doing it there also,” he said.
“I know there are people who are going to try to say this is a religious issue. That’s just absolutely false. This is a public safety issue. You can drink as much as you want. But once you get past a couple of drinks, you ought not to be getting behind the wheel of an automobile.”
