COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA) – The South Carolina House of Representatives is debating a bill that leaders called “a top priority.”

The Liquor Liability Bill was unanimously passed in the House, and lawmakers said it could lower insurance rates for bars and restaurants, as well as improve DUI laws to make South Carolina safer.

“The real question that is yet to be answered, is why are insurance premiums going up?” said Rep. Weston Newton (R – District 120}

In 2017, a law required every bar and restaurant that sell alcohol to carry $1 million of insurance coverage. Representative Jay Jordan (R – District 63) said that since the law was put in place, insurance companies have raised their rates.

He said the current law has forced several bars and restaurants to close.

“We want to help those folks back home, that are operating these businesses that have seen their premiums go up traumatically in many if not most cases,” said Jordan. “That was really no fault of their own.”

The new proposal would offer business owners ways to lower their insurance rates; one option is an alcohol training course for employees.

“We can do all this to protect our, our bars and restaurants, our small businesses, but at the end of the day, we got to be protecting the public as well,” Newton said. “The safe serve training component, and the DUI increase in penalties are targeted to do that.”

Laura Hudson from Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) said this bill isn’t perfect, but it’s a great step to saving businesses and lives in South Carolina.

“We need to comply with our constitution, which says that there should be no saloons and South Carolina, which we have to have primarily and substantially food service in order to be licensed,” Hudson said.

There is a bill that has many similarities to this one under debate in the Senate.

House Speaker Murrell Smith said he agrees with Governor Henry McMaster and Senate leadership that they have one common goal, to make South Carolina a place that protects businesses and victims.