New law ends requirement for businesses to check ID before serving alcohol
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — A new law removes the requirement for businesses to check ID before serving alcohol.
Odell's Law was named after a 90-year-old man who was denied a beer because he didn't have his ID. It eliminates the requirement for businesses to check ID before serving customers.
"I think it's time for government to have common sense and I think that's what this law is about," said Senator Darrell Weaver, one of the bill's authors. "They can have policy to say, we're going to identify everyone, but the government shouldn't tell them they have to identify a 90 year old man. And that's what we've tried to correct."
"There's never been a requirement to ask for I.D." said Brandon Clabes with the ABLE Commission, which oversees alcohol sales. "It's better for businesses, better, better for the servers and better for us, because we were labeled it was ABLE's requirement, which was not true at all. There is no requirement to ask for I.D. now, this law will clarify that," said Clabes.
However, the new law has some servers and bartenders worried.
"I think it's insane that we're passing this law," said Morghan Taylor, a bartender. "Like this is my livelihood and I feel like we need every security measure available."
Taylor also said knowing if someone is of age just by looking at them is harder than you think.
"You're gauging someone's age based off of how you deem them. And so I just feel like, no, it's not easy to tell. I feel like you just need to verify their age by their ID," said Taylor.
Taylor said she hopes businesses continue to ID despite the new law.
"Why would we lose that standard? Because, I mean, what what do we want our bartenders and servers behind bars? I don't think we want that," added Taylor.
The law goes into effect on November 1.
It does not exempt anyone from giving alcohol to those under 21.