Utah lawmaker abandons bill letting car dealerships stay open all weekend


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KEY TAKEAWAYS
  • Sen. Stephanie Pitcher withdrew her bill to allow Utah car dealerships to stay open all weekend.
  • The law, supported by late businessman Larry H. Miller, mandates dealerships close one weekend day.
  • Opponents argue changing the law pressures dealers to extend hours, impacting employees and families.

SALT LAKE CITY — It's a law that's been on the books for 25 years – car dealerships in Utah can't be open on consecutive weekend days.

In the Beehive state, that means they're usually closed on Sunday.

Sen. Stephanie Pitcher, D-Millcreek, aimed to change that with SB136. But amid stiff opposition, the sponsor told KSL-TV late Friday she's not moving forward with it.

But she still thinks the law should change.

"I don't think that the government needs to be telling private businesses or private industry how to do things," Pitcher said.

Sen. Stephanie Pitcher speaking about why she thinks car dealerships should be able to choose to stay open on weekends.
Sen. Stephanie Pitcher speaking about why she thinks car dealerships should be able to choose to stay open on weekends. (Photo: Jackson Grimm, KSL-TV)

History of the law

The law prohibiting Utah car dealerships from staying open Saturday and Sunday was originally passed in 2000. It was strongly supported by the late businessman and car dealer Larry H. Miller.

"He was an advocate for a six-day cycle," said Craig Bickmore, executive director of New Car Dealers of Utah. "He led the effort."

Bickmore said requiring dealerships to stay closed one weekend day is healthy.

"This is just something that is good for the employees, good for their families," he said.

Craig Bickmore giving his thoughts about the bill.
Craig Bickmore giving his thoughts about the bill. (Photo: Jackson Grimm, KSL-TV)

Bickmore insisted that dealers would feel pressure to stay open if the law changed. Senate Majority Whip Chris Wilson, R-Logan, agreed.

"It'll force new car dealers to be open on Sunday," Wilson said during a media availability Friday with reporters.

Wilson is a car dealer and owns Wilson Motor Company in Logan.

"We can't really hire more employees," Wilson said. "Really, how it works is, you're going to have to have them work more hours."

Wilson was blunt about his thoughts on Pitcher's proposal to change the law.

"I think it's a horrible bill," he said.

Senate Majority Whip Chris Wilson at media availability on Friday at the Capitol.
Senate Majority Whip Chris Wilson at media availability on Friday at the Capitol. (Photo: Jackson Grimm, KSL-TV)

Government 'carve-outs'

But Pitcher, an attorney who has served in the Legislature since 2019, finds the law a little weird.

"Why are we making carve-outs for car dealerships but not other industries?" Pitcher said.

She said she plans to watch another bill moving through the House of Representatives dealing with businesses that are required to stay open on Sundays. But for now, Pitcher does not plan to pursue the legislation on car dealerships any further.

"I think we're going to let it go this session," Pitcher said.

Still, for her, the issue remains.

"You open when you want to want to open," Pitcher said. "If you want to close, you close, but you don't need us to tell you to do that."

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The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Utah LegislaturePoliticsUtahSalt Lake CountyBusiness
Daniel Woodruff, KSL-TVDaniel Woodruff
Daniel Woodruff is a reporter/anchor with deep experience covering Utah news. He is a native of Provo and a graduate of Brigham Young University. Daniel has also worked as a journalist in Indiana and Wisconsin.

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