COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — At the Ohio Statehouse, a vote for a bill that would change training for certain bar and restaurant workers was delayed on Tuesday.

“There are a lot of questions that remain unanswered in this bill,” attorney and opponent of the bill Sean Harris said.

House Bill 504, sponsored by Rep. Gail Pavliga (R-Portage County), is known as Hayden’s Law, after a 25-year-old from northeast Ohio who died after leaving a bar. The bill would require alcohol server training for bars and restaurants. The training would be approved by the state superintendent of liquor control.

“It will get the attention of a lot of people to do the right thing,” Executive Director of the Ohio Bar Owners Association Andrew Herf said. “We have always supported additional training for employees at bars and restaurants, anybody that serves liquor the public. We think that that’s a responsible way to do business and we find the more they train, the fewer mishaps they have.”

Herf said though the Bar Owners Association does support the bill, it is working to make the mandate an additional incentive instead.

“The problem with a mandate is that it would be almost impossible to prove who’s gone through the training,” he said. “It would create another level of bureaucracy for people to get their liquor permits renewed. We don’t want to do that.”

The association does sponsor training, with “three main features,” Herf said. That includes an understanding of Ohio’s liquor laws, how to mitigate conflict, and how to recognize when someone has been overserved and then to cut them off.

“Currently, the incentive is, if you go before the liquor control commission, you can demonstrate you’ve had all your people go through the training and they will accept that as part of the evidence in their procedure,” Herf said.

The bill would also provide immunity from all civil liability to those who successfully have their employees complete and properly implement the training protocols. Meaning, for example, if it cannot be proven that an employee knowingly served alcohol to someone who needed to be cut off, then that establishment can face no civil litigation.

“The law would say they get a ‘get out of jail free’ card,” Harris said. “They don’t have to be responsible for their own conduct and actions, which we think is just unacceptable. It raises additional burdens, additional hurdles for those people to try and get their lives back together.”

If implemented, Ohio would join five other states that have liability defense.

Harris said aside from the liability portion, the legislation raises too many questions that it does not answer.

“I think there’s a lot of open questions about the substance of the training, for example,” Harris said. “A bartender taking a class, a two-hour, online class one time, is there any recurrent training required? Or if the person serves for a bartender for 30 years, they take one two-hour online class and that’s sufficient?”

Harris said he does not find the bill necessary, as state law already has rules and incentives in place, though he is supportive of more training.

“The more training, the better,” he said. “More information about how to assess customers for their level of intoxication is always better. The focus should be on the training and the rules. I’m not sure House Bill 504 addresses that.”

“I don’t believe it’s redundant,” Herf said. “I’ve heard that case made, but I think it is always important to have training front and center. We are locking arms with all of the on-premises retailers in Ohio to support this bill.”

Rep. Brett Hillyer (R-Uhrichsville), chairman of the Ohio House Civil Justice Committee, where the bill is being heard, said he finds it best to hold off on a vote until some of the language can be updated to address concerns.