Open container bill stalls in House

INDIANAPOLIS -- The chairman of a House committee said he may not allow a vote on a bill prohibiting open containers of alcohol in vehicles.\nA second Senate-passed transportation bill that came before Rep. Mark Lytle's House Public Policy, Ethics and Veterans Affairs Committee on Tuesday also could be in trouble. Committee members questioned aspects of legislation requiring people to use seat belts in pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles.\nThe open container bill met stronger opposition, with critics including Lytle saying it amounted to federal government "blackmail" because it could cost the state millions of dollars in federal road construction money.\nOpponents also said the bill would punish designated drivers by ticketing them for the actions of their passengers.\nLytle, D-Madison, said he would put the bill on the calendar for Wednesday so that bill sponsor Sen. Tom Wyss, R-Fort Wayne, has a chance to work out some of the problems opponents see in the bill.\nBut Lytle still could deny consideration of the bill. He said putting it on the calendar "doesn't mean we'll address it."\nThe bill would prohibit open containers of alcohol in vehicles even if the driver is sober, although exceptions would be made for limousines and recreational vehicles. A violation would be a Class B misdemeanor carrying a fine of up to $1,000.\nCurrent law allows passengers to drink in a car if the driver has a blood-alcohol content of .04 or lower.\nUnless Indiana passes the open container bill, the state must shift more than $13 million in federal road construction money to safety funds, and will lose $1.3 million outright. Indiana could lose nearly $115 million over the next six years if the state doesn't pass a federally compliant open container law and if a federal funding bill currently before Congress passes.\nBill supporters, who have not received a hearing for such legislation in the House since 1994, say the state needs the money.\nBill Livvix, a lobbyist with the Indiana Regional Council of Carpenters, said the construction jobs paid for by the federal dollars are an important reason to pass the bill.\n"We need them a lot more than we need to be able to drink a beer in the back seat on the way to a ball game," he said.\nThe second transportation bill, regarding seat belts, would roll back provisions of current law that do not require passengers and drivers in pickups and SUVs to buckle up.\nThe bill also would require adults riding in the back seats of vehicles to wear seat belts. The current bill would allow police officers to pull over cars if adults in the back seat are not buckled up, but lawmakers suggested that should only be the case for front-seat passengers. That amendment could be offered Wednesday. An infraction could result in a $25 ticket.\nCommittee members heard emotional testimony from the family and friends of 24-year-old Megan Minix, of Kokomo, who died Feb. 9 after a truck she was riding in flipped over. She had not been wearing a seat belt. Her father, Darrell Minix, said she always wore one in her car.\n"I don't understand how we can have a law for passenger cars and then have a different law for trucks and SUVs," he told lawmakers. "You hear all the statistics, but this is my beautiful daughter we had last week and we don't have her any more"