The city’s Equal Opportunities Commission took action Thursday against a bar policy which requires a driver’s license for entry, citing possible prejudice and discriminatory practices as reasons to fight against the policy.

In addition to the concerns about discrimination raised by the bar policy, commission members worried the policy was not being consistently enforced.

Luc?a Nu?ez, director of the Department of Civil Rights, said there is no current ordinance that addresses uniform bar admittance or discrimination that may take place when bar security determines who to allow in.

Multiple commission members were concerned not having such an ordinance could lead to bars that have adopted the policy not universally asking for a driver’s license for admission.

Rather, the members said, bar security could require a license from some prospective patrons while allowing others to slide by. Members are concerned security could make those decisions on the basis of race.

Members said they understand and respect bars’ rights to have admittance policies like dress codes, but feel universal application is paramount for equality.

EOC Executive Committee President Coco Bustamante said admissions guidelines are necessary, but should be enforced fairly.

“The police have standard protocol for how they establish age and identity,” she said. “That should be clear and easy to apply to admission.”

Ald. Brian Solomon, District 10, said it would take a “solid six to eight months” for a potential ordinance about universal enforcement to go through the city process.

In the meantime, commission member Brian Benford suggested the commission create a subcommittee to raise public awareness and take action against the policy.

The commission motioned to create the subcommittee immediately. Benford and members Sean Saiz and Katherine Cramer Walsh volunteered as members.

City Alcohol Policy Coordinator Mark Woulf said the city is also taking action to educate the public and bar owners about the policy and its potential discriminatory implications.

He said Mayor Paul Soglin will meet with a small group of bar owners to go over the policy and discuss its possible consequences.

The city will also hold a tavern safety training session sometime in December.

“[The session] will give bar owners and managers the best practices for management and admissions policies,” Woulf said.

Woulf said the sessions are the mayor’s office’s response to the “great deal” of public concern that the bar policy could be discriminatory.

“Our goal is to try to educate establishment owners on some of those implications and provide them to keep [their establishments] safe without discriminating,” he said.

Commission members said the urgency of the issue comes from revealing statistics about who has a driver’s license in Wisconsin. Seventy-eight percent of black men between 18 and 24 don’t have a license, while only 36 percent of white males of the same age do not.

Solomon said the commission has three possible choices for how to combat the policy.

“We can sit back and wait to see if a complaint gets filed, we could look at an ordinance change [prohibiting the policy] or we can work with bar owners and figure out a solution,” he said.