Newport is one step closer to scrapping its decades-old bar ID requirement. Instead, it is looking to opt for modern alcohol safety training that city leaders say is cheaper, simpler and more effective.
An ordinance repealing Newport’s requirements for bar IDs for bar workers and replacing them with training certifications from Server Training in Alcohol Regulations, better known as S.T.A.R., unanimously advanced to a second reading on Monday after the Newport Board of Commissioners heard testimonials from business owners and residents.
Newport is only one of three Kentucky cities requiring a bar ID. The card costs $45, and people working at bars (both bartenders and other staff like cooks, cleaning staff, and bouncers) are required to have one to legally work in the city.
The purpose of the IDs today is to allow the police or the alcoholic beverage control, also referred to as ABC, administration to know who is supposed to be in a bar at any given time, especially after hours when shutting down operations.
The law is a holdover from previous decades, and city manger John Hayden said they were established primarily as a means of keeping some of the city’s adult-oriented businesses from hiring underage girls as dancers as they would be required to get an ID through the police, although he added “there’s been other purposes for it.”
The new ordinance would repeal the need for bar IDs, except for sexually oriented businesses, and replace the requirement with S.T.A.R. training only for bartenders and others serving alcohol rather than for everyone. The training can be done online at the hire’s own pace, unlike the bar ID application, which has to be done in person.
“S.T.A.R. training has proven not just in the region but throughout the state as a best practice,” said Mayor Tom Tom Guidugli Jr.
Guidugli said that some businesses had even expressed interest in maintaining bar IDs on a voluntary basis, and the board members showed interest in perhaps allowing that in the future for interested businesses who found the bar IDs useful.
Hayden, for his own part, didn’t think the IDs were all that useful for guaranteeing safety, as the background check that occurs as part of the application process only extends to Kentucky and not other states. He also said that business owners had told him they were costly, especially for employees who didn’t stay at the establishment very long. The S.T.A.R. training, the certification for which is cheaper (only 40$) and lasts three years, used a centralized roster system that struck him as more efficient.
Some commission members also raised the potential for the bar ID law to disincentivize businesses from moving to the city.
“In talking to a number of my clients and to a number of just bar owners in general, it seems like the consensus is that Newport is not friendly to bars and restaurants,” said Commissioner Aaron Sutherland, who works as a lawyer. “This is one example of that.”
Roger Peterson, the owner of the Brass Ass, Brass Bull and Huddles Cafe, affirmed this sentiment and argued that nothing should be required, neither bar IDs nor S.T.A.R trainings.
“After 40 years, and I’ve lived the whole time through the bar IDs, I have never seen one thing good thing come out of them,” Peterson said.
Peterson said they were an onerous cost on his business and that police coming in to check for them could sometimes drive out customers. He said he didn’t think they served much of a purpose and asked the city manager why they were required, a question that led to a somewhat curt exchange between Hayden and him.
“What are they [the IDs] doing to the community?” Peterson asked.
“When there’s police issues and there’s calls that come to establishments, and we need to see who’s supposed to be there and who’s not,” Hayden responded. “I mean, with all due respect, your establishments have a significant number of police issues over time.”
“What about, we’ll say, Jersey’s?” said Peterson. “They had a number of police calls.”
“Jersey’s is closed,” Hayden said.
“I know, but before they did,” Peterson said. “I mean, so you have problems in every bar.”
“We had somebody killed in one of your bars, Mr. Peterson,” Hayden said in reference to a fatal 2022 shooting in front of the Brass Bull.
“That’s right,” Peterson said.
The co-owners of the Crazy Fox Saloon, Carl Fox and Terry Bond, on the other hand, were in favor of the IDs as they served as a filter for weeding out bad (even potentially criminal) hires.
“For us… the bar IDs have actually been a good thing on the whole,” Bond said. “It lets us know that who we are hiring is actually who they say they are.”
“In 35 years, in the hundreds and hundreds of people I’ve interviewed and hired and fired, you’d be stunned who will come and apply for a job,” Fox said. “That bar ID has been a great savior.”
After some discussion, Hayden said that Fox and Bond could continue to use the bar IDs voluntarily if they found it helpful.
The commission will cast a final vote on the ordinance at their next legislative meeting.
Hayley Parnell contributed reporting to this story.