The bill clarifying a restaurant license in the state passed through the House on Monday with a majority vote. Sen. Lydia Jackson’s bill is aimed to clearly define the requirements for a Restaurant “R” permit while giving restaurants more leeway with alcohol sales including live music and drink specials at night as long as the state requirements for sales are met.  “We’re just clarifying existing law,” Rep. Jeff Arnold, D-New Orleans, told the House of Representatives on Monday. Several local Baton Rouge restaurant owners have been in support of the bill since it’s introduction including Chelsea’s owner, Dave Remmetter. On Remmetter’s Web site, Chelsea’s supporters were encouraged to call their legislators and show support for the bill. In the House Judiciary Committee hearing last Wednesday, Jackson said the bill does not change local zoning laws but helps with keeping the laws consistent.”This bill really just establishes a level playing field [for restaurants],” Jackson told the committee. The lawmakers want a restaurant to be shut down if it isn’t functioning as a restaurant, Jackson said. The bill would not aid illegal behavior but help the Alcohol and Tobacco Control interpret the law fairly. ATC Commissioner Murphy Painter told the committee that establishments that have come under scrutiny by the ATC didn’t comply with the state’s law requiring restaurants food sales to be more than 50 percent. The bill passed, 68-31. But opponents tried to kill the bill in earlier committees and tried tacking on two amendments including one that would exempt New Orleans from the proposed law. Rep. Walker Hines, D-New Orleans, proposed the amendment, saying the bill would destroy the “fabric” of New Orleans neighborhoods.  “We have restaurants in quaint beautiful neighborhoods that we don’t want to turn into nightclubs,” Hines said to the House. “All we’re asking you is to please allow New Orleans to not abide in this.”Hines argued that the “overwhelming” majority of New Orleans neighborhood groups, including French Quarter residents, the St. Charles Avenue Association and The Times-Picayune, were against the bill.The amendment failed with only 21 lawmakers in support after the vote. Arnold, who is a New Orleans Representative, said the amendment suggests New Orleans is better than the rest of the state and protested that the bill would not cause any significant change to the area.”Existing zoning laws supersede anything in this bill,” Arnold said to the House.—–Contact Joy Lukachick at [email protected]