INDIANAPOLIS -- A bill that would require people to use seat belts in pickup trucks and a proposal prohibiting open containers of alcohol in vehicles both stalled in a House committee Monday.
Representatives on the House Public Policy, Ethics and Veterans Affairs Committee questioned some aspects of the seat belt bill. The open container bill met stronger opposition, with critics saying it amounted to federal government ''blackmail.''
The open container law would prohibit open containers of alcohol in vehicles even if the driver is sober, although exceptions would be made for limousine drivers and those with recreational vehicles.
It's the first time since 1994 that the House has even considered such a bill, which has already passed the Senate. Current law allows passengers to drink in a car if the driver has a blood-alcohol content of .04 or lower.
Unless 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.
Bill supporters, who have not received a hearing for such legislation in the House since 1994, say the state needs the money.
Bill 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.
''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.
But some opponents, including committee chairman Markt Lytle, D-Madison, said the bill amounts to blackmail by the federal government. Opponents also said the bill would punish designated drivers by ticketing them for the actions of their passengers.
Lytle 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.
But Lytle could still deny the bill a hearing. He said putting it on the calendar ''doesn't mean we'll address it.''
The second transportation bill, regarding seat belts, would require passengers and drivers in pickup trucks and sport utility vehicles to buckle up. Current law does not require people in those vehicles to wear seat belts.
The bill would also 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.
Committee members heard emotional testimony from the family and friends of 24-year-old Megan Minix, of Kokomo, who died Monday after a truck she was riding in flipped over. She was not wearing a seat belt in the truck. Her father, Darrell Minix, said she always wore one in her car.
''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.''
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