Utah has deemed ID checks 100% necessary for alcohol purchases, either digitally or manually. In addition, blatant warnings not to sell alcohol to DUI offenders are written on licences, encouraging manual ID inspections in any case to ensure the shopper is above the legal age requirement. This represents a faithful law change to embrace the full powers of ID.
Instated 1st January, 2026, establishments are now obliged to check every customer making an alcohol purchase, regardless of what age they appear. Businesses that are already using ID scanners to verify IDs can continue their practices without needing to replace their scanners. The distinction in practice if businesses are already using electronic scanners is to also manually check IDs, as scanners might not catch whether the ID is that of an interdicted individual. However, every establishment is expected to manually check ID, as the easiest way of identifying if IDs could be fake.
One insider commented that “by placing a “No Alcohol Sale” notation directly on a government ID, data that once lived in court records or in controlled systems is now disclosed during routine, face-to-face transactions” regarding the privacy ramifications for offenders.
All businesses that sell alcohol must look for “No Alcohol Sale” language on IDs issued by the state of Utah, to confirm whether the individual is prohibited from purchasing and consuming alcohol. Furthermore, “privacy considerations here are real”, the insider said, and “sensitive” private information about an offender which is central to a court case then becomes visible to private actors outside this context.
Amendments to a law passed in the Utah legislature earlier this year (HB 437) requires the Driver License Division to create an ID card that indicates whether someone is an “interdicted person” which is effectively checked 100% of the time.
The Utah Driver License Division has finalised the design of ID cards that will be given to individuals subject to court orders. They will receive the new ID from January onwards.
