LINCOLN — Last call might not come as quickly in Nebraska anymore.
State lawmakers approved an amendment Tuesday allowing bars and restaurants to serve alcohol until 2 a.m., if the local governing body agrees.
“Good news, that’s awesome!” said Cindy Vance, who owns the Old Market’s Dubliner pub along with her husband, Frank.
The couple regularly see patrons head out, as closing time approaches, to hail cabs and head across the river to Council Bluffs, where the bar closing time is 2 a.m.
Out-of-town patrons can’t believe how early Nebraska bars must close, she said. State law sets closing at 1 a.m. Many have come to Omaha for Qwest Center events, the College World Series or other sporting events.
The Vances’ gain could be Trent Tiessen’s loss.
Tiessen, the owner of T’z bar in Council Bluffs, said he “obviously” would not like to see later closing times for Omaha bars.
“We’d probably lose one-third of our business after 11 p.m.,” he said.
Tiessen noted that later closing times are not a done deal.
Nebraska lawmakers have yet to vote on final passage of Legislative Bill 861. The amendment was added on a 33-10 vote to a bill that is relatively noncontroversial.
Omaha City Council President Garry Gernandt couldn’t predict how the council might respond.
“It’s been talked about in the past, but I don’t know what the current flavor of the council is,” he said.
State Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln pushed the amendment, saying it is important to keep Nebraska competitive with surrounding states.
“If we trust our local governing body to listen to their citizens who elect them, we can trust them on this, too,” he said.
Other senators said current state law puts Nebraska at a disadvantage in attracting young people and major events.
Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha said the earlier time affects Omaha especially.
“We are the only top 50 city that has a 1 a.m. closing time,” he said. “People who come from elsewhere are genuinely surprised.”
Nebraska is the last state with an across-the-board 1 a.m. bar closing time, said Sen. Kent Rogert of Tekamah. Even Utah, with its heavily Mormon population, allows special clubs to stay open later, he said.
But Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha said later closing times would add to the problems for neighborhoods that are already struggling with disruptive bars.
She also argued that the change would increase the burden on law enforcement.
“Is this really what we want for this state?” Howard asked.
The extra hour of drinking will lead to a greater number of alcohol-related incidents near bars, predicted Diane Riibe, executive director of Project Extra Mile.
“You absolutely have the probability you will have increased problems without increased law enforcement to handle it,” she said.
Letting individual communities decide about closing times also will result in a patchwork of local ordinances, Riibe said.
That increases the chances that bar patrons will leave towns with earlier closing times to go places with later times.
Simera Reynolds, executive director of MADD Nebraska, said a 2 a.m. closing time could be a special problem if it falls during shift change time for local law enforcement.
Bills to extend bar closing times have been introduced in the Nebraska Legislature for more than 20 years.
This year marked the first time that a proposal to extend bar closing times made it out of committee, let alone won advancement.
After one hearing 15 years ago, former State Sen. Jim Cudaback of Riverdale predicted “it may happen someday” that Nebraska would let bars stay open past 1 a.m.
That someday appears to have arrived.
World-Herald staff writer Maggie O’Brien contributed to this report.
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