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2005 General Session
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SF 8 was the third attempt in three years to strengthen Wyoming's law regulating open containers of alcoholic beverages in motor vehicles, and for the third time, the effort failed.
In 2001, Wyoming gained its first-ever statewide restrictions on open containers of alcohol in vehicles, when the Legislature approved statutes that prohibited drivers of motor vehicles from possessing opened alcoholic beverages. The law passed in 2001 does not apply to passengers in a vehicle.
SF 8 would have extended the ban on open containers of alcohol to passengers in vehicles on public streets or highways. As the bill was introduced, passengers in commercial buses, limousines, and the living quarters of recreational vehicles would have been exempted from the ban.
SF 8 proposed that alcoholic beverages could be transported in new, unopened containers or in areas of a vehicle not easily accessible to the driver and passengers, such as the trunk, back of a pickup, or cargo area of a sports utility vehicle.
Another 2005 bill (HB 118) allowed partially-consumed bottles of wine that were purchased with restaurant meals to be resealed and removed from the premises, and this bill specifically exempted properly resealed bottles from transportation bans. So even if SF 8 had passed, restaurant patrons would still be allowed to take partial bottles of wine home, if they followed the provisions for resealing as specified in HB 118.
Proponents maintained that SF 8 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.
Opponents staunchly maintained that there is no compelling reason to prohibit passengers in a vehicle from drinking if they want to.
The bill ultimately failed this year because of disagreement between the Senate and the House over whether or not the ban on open containers should apply to passengers in recreational vehicles. The Senate passed the bill as written (that is, exempting recreational vehicle passengers from the ban), 23-7. The House amended the bill to apply only to vehicles in motion, but removing the exemption for recreational vehicle passengers, and then passed the bill, 37-21 (2 excused).
The Senate almost unanimously did not concur with the House amendments to the bill, with only Senators Curt Meier (R-S3, LaGrange) and Tony Ross (R-S4, Cheyenne) voting in favor of the House version.
SF 8 went through two conference committees, both of which essentially restored the bill to the version passed by the Senate, exempting passengers in recreational vehicles and dropping the provision that would apply the law only to vehicles in motion. Both conference committee bills were accepted by the Senate (22-8 the first time, 19-5 with 6 excused the second time), and both were rejected by the House (29-29 with 2 excused the first time, 25-33 with 2 excused the second time). The second rejection of SF 8 by the House killed the bill for the 2005 session.
The votes listed below are the House and Senate third reading (final passage) votes. A YES vote by a House member means the representative wanted to extend the ban on open containers to all passengers in motor vehicles, including those in recreational vehicles. A YES vote by a senator means the senator wanted to extend the ban on open containers to passengers in vehicles, but did not want the ban to be applied to passengers in recreational vehicles. A NO vote by representatives and senators means the legislator did not want to extend the ban on open containers to passengers in motor vehicles.
| Bighorn Basin Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/28/05 | House 3rd 2/22/05 |
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| S 18 | Hank Coe (R) | No | |
| H 24 | Colin Simpson (R) | Excused | |
| H 50 | Pat Childers (R) | No | |
| S 19 | Laness D. Northrup (R) | Yes | |
| H 25 | Alan Jones (R) | No | |
| H 26 | Elaine Harvey (R) | Yes | |
| S 20 | Gerald E. Geis (R) | Yes | |
| H 27 | Debbie Hammons (D) | Yes | |
| H 28 | Lorraine Quarberg (R) | Yes | |
| Casper-Area Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/28/05 | House 3rd 2/22/05 |
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| S 27 | John Barrasso (R) | Yes | |
| H 35 | Roy Cohee (R) | Yes | |
| H 36 | Gerald Gay (R) | Yes | |
| S 28 | Kit Jennings (R) | Yes | |
| H 56 | Tom Walsh (R) | Yes | |
| H 57 | Thomas A. Lockhart (R) | Yes | |
| S 29 | Bill Hawks (R) | Yes | |
| H 37 | Steve Harshman (R) | No | |
| H 59 | Mary Gilmore (D) | Yes | |
| S 30 | Charles K. Scott (R) | Yes | |
| H 38 | Bob Brechtel (R) | No | |
| H 58 | Ann Robinson (D) | Yes | |
| Cheyenne-Area Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/28/05 | House 3rd 2/22/05 |
|
| S 4 | Tony Ross (R) | Yes | |
| H 7 | Doug Samuelson (R) | Yes | |
| H 41 | Becket Hinckley (R) | Yes | |
| S 5 | John Hanes (R) | Yes | |
| H 8 | Larry Meuli (R) | Yes | |
| H 42 | Pete Illoway (R) | Yes | |
| S 6 | Wayne H. Johnson (R) | Yes | |
| H 9 | Bryan Pedersen (R) | Yes | |
| H 10 | Rodney "Pete" Anderson (R) | Yes | |
| S 7 | Kathryn Sessions (D) | Yes | |
| H 11 | Wayne Reese (D) | No | |
| H 43 | Dan Zwonitzer (R) | No | |
| S 8 | E. Jayne Mockler (D) | Yes | |
| H 12 | Layton Morgan (D) | Yes | |
| H 44 | Floyd Esquibel (D) | Yes | |
| Gillette-Area Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/28/05 | House 3rd 2/22/05 |
|
| S 23 | John Hines (R) | No | |
| H 31 | Thomas E. Lubnau II (R) | Yes | |
| H 52 | Burke Jackson (R) | Yes | |
| S 24 | Michael Von Flatern (R) | Yes | |
| H 32 | Jeff Wasserburger (R) | No | |
| H 53 | Frank Latta (R) | No | |
| Lander/Riverton-Area Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/28/05 | House 3rd 2/22/05 |
|
| S 25 | Cale Case (R) | No | |
| H 33 | W. Patrick Goggles (D) | No | |
| H 54 | Del McOmie (R) | Yes | |
| S 26 | Robert A. Peck (R) | Yes | |
| H 34 | Frank Philp (R) | No | |
| H 55 | David Miller (R) | Yes | |
| Northeast/East Central WY Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/28/05 | House 3rd 2/22/05 |
|
| S 1 | C.L. Townsend (R) | No | |
| H 1 | Mark Semlek (R) | No | |
| H 2 | Ross Diercks (D) | No | |
| S 2 | Jim Anderson (R) | Yes | |
| H 5 | James C. Hageman (R) | No | |
| H 6 | Dave Edwards (R) | Yes | |
| S 3 | Curt Meier (R) | No | |
| H 3 | Deborah Alden (R) | No | |
| H 4 | Edward A. Buchanan (R) | No | |
| Sheridan-Area Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/28/05 | House 3rd 2/22/05 |
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| S 21 | Bruce Burns (R) | Yes | |
| H 29 | Jerry Iekel (R) | Yes | |
| H 51 | Rosie Berger (R) | Yes | |
| S 22 | John Schiffer (R) | Yes | |
| H 30 | Jack Landon (R) | No | |
| H 40 | Doug Osborn (R) | Yes | |
| South Central WY Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/28/05 | House 3rd 2/22/05 |
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| S 9 | Mike Massie (D) | Yes | |
| H 13 | Jane Warren (D) | Yes | |
| H 45 | Kevin A. White (R) | Yes | |
| S 10 | Phil Nicholas (R) | Yes | |
| H 14 | Kermit C. Brown (R) | Yes | |
| H 46 | James Slater (R) | Yes | |
| S 11 | Bill Vasey (D) | No | |
| H 15 | George Bagby (D) | No | |
| H 47 | Kurt Bucholz (R) | No | |
| Southwest WY Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/28/05 | House 3rd 2/22/05 |
|
| S 12 | Rae Lynn Job (D) | Yes | |
| H 48 | Marty Martin (D) | Yes | |
| H 16 | Pete Jorgensen (D) | Excused | |
| S 13 | Tex Boggs (D) | Yes | |
| H 17 | Stephen Watt (R) | Yes | |
| H 60 | Bill Thompson (D) | No | |
| S 14 | Stan Cooper (R) | Yes | |
| H 18 | Mick Powers (R) | Yes | |
| H 39 | John Hastert (D) | Yes | |
| S 15 | Ken Decaria (D) | No | |
| H 19 | Owen Petersen (R) | Yes | |
| H 49 | Bruce Barnard (R) | Yes | |
| West Central WY Legislators | Senate 3rd 1/28/05 | House 3rd 2/22/05 |
|
| S 16 | Pat Aullman (R) | Yes | |
| H 20 | Kathy Davison (R) | Yes | |
| H 21 | Randall Luthi (R) | No | |
| S 17 | Grant Larson (R) | Yes | |
| H 22 | Monte Olsen (R) | No | |
| H 23 | Keith Gingery (R) | Yes | |
See Southwest Region for H 16 and S 12 | |||