SF 33: Open Containers of Alcohol
2007 General Session

Sponsor: Sen. Tony Ross (R-S4, Cheyenne); co-sponsors Reps. Kathy Davison (R-H20, Kemmerer), Pete Illoway (R-H42, Cheyenne), Lori Millin (D-H8, Cheyenne)

SF 33 represented the fifth attempt in five years to strengthen Wyoming’s law regulating open containers of alcoholic beverages in motor vehicles. In 2001, Wyoming lawmakers (after years of effort by proponents) prohibited the driver of a vehicle from possessing an opened container of alcohol, but the open container restriction did not apply to passengers in vehicles. SF 33 finally extended the prohibition on open containers to any person in a motor vehicle while it is in motion.

Under the new law, passengers in chartered busses or limousines will be exempt from the ban. Resealed bottles of alcohol may be transported in areas of the vehicle that are inaccessible to the driver and not normally occupied by passengers, such as a trunk, cargo area of a sport utility vehicle, back of a pickup truck, or secure compartment of a recreational vehicle. Restaurant patrons may take partial bottles of wine home, if they have been properly resealed for transportation.

Proponents, well practiced after years of effort, once again noted that SF 33 would improve safety for all drivers and passengers on Wyoming highways, citing statistics that show the high number of Wyoming traffic accidents in which alcohol is a contributing factor. They noted that if passengers in a vehicle are drinking, it greatly increases the chance that the driver also will drink while driving. Law enforcement authorities pointed to the obvious enforcement problem of having the restriction apply only to the driver, noting that a drinking driver can simply pass the bottle to a passenger before a law enforcement officer gets to the window.

The Senate passed SF 33, 26-3 (1 excused), and the House passed the bill, 52-7 (1 excused). The votes listed below are the House and Senate third reading (final passage) votes. A YES vote means the legislator wanted to extend the ban on open containers in vehicles to all people in the car. A NO vote means the legislator did not want to prohibit passengers in cars from having an open container.

ENGROSSED