A bill that would allow local governments to extend bar hours past 2 a.m. cleared the House 38-27 a month ago, but MADD appears ready to make a stand on Monday.

House Bill 1123 is up at 2 p.m. before the Senate Business, Labor and Technology Committee, which is led by two small business-minded Republicans, Chairman Jack Tate of Centennial and Vice Chairman Tim Neville of Littleton.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving argues that letting towns in close proximity set staggered bar hours encourages late-night barhopping.

Proponents counter that different hours would allow law enforcement a better chance to catch drunk drivers, rather than all the drunks spilling onto the roads that 2 a.m.

“Passage of this bill could have far-reaching public safety implications for the entire state,” Colleen Sheehey-Church, MADD’s national president said in a statement. “As the largest impaired driving victim services organization in the country, MADD recognizes the seriousness of these crimes and we’re fighting to end drunk driving-so that lives don’t.”

The organization sent reporters a list of the organizations that will oppose the bill in the Senate:

“Impaired driving is a leading cause of fatalities on our roadways,” Shailen Bhatt, CDOT’s executive director, said in a statement released by MADD. “We cannot afford to gamble with measures that would increase the potential for drunk driving.”

“The question you have to ask yourself is ‘what will this legislation do to decrease the number of impaired driving traffic fatalities?'” said Chief Mike Phibbs of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police. “The way we see it, this bill has the no compelling public interest, and only the potential to increase tragedies on our roadways and we ask legislators to vote no.”

The Denver Post reported in January that at least 605 people died in traffic accidents in Colorado’s last year, an 11 percent spike from 2015.

Bhatt blamed the increase in the Post story on “an epidemic of distracted driving,” but the Post article made no analysis on impaired driving.

MADD provided statements opposing the bill from two well-known politicos, District Attorney George Brauchler and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, for the former Colorado Attorney General. Brauchler, political insiders think, will be in the Republican primary for governor next year.

“Extending the opportunity for folks to pour themselves onto our roads after a night of drinking past is a risk Colorado does not need to take,” Brauchler stated.

Added Suthers, “While I cannot speak for the City Council, I am personally opposed to the bill, as I believe it would exacerbate, rather than mitigate problems with drunken patrons, including drunk driving.”