Tennessee effort to ban open alcohol containers in cars dead for year

April 18, 2017 at 9:50 a.m. | Updated April 18, 2017 at 8:54 p.m.

by Associated Press

FILE - In this Thursday, March 5, 2015, file photo, Budweiser beer cans are seen at a concession stand at McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Fla. A British court has ruled that two groups of SABMiller shareholders should vote separately on Anheuser-Busch InBev’s 79 billion pound ($104 million) takeover, effectively giving smaller investors the outside chance to derail the deal. he decision Tuesday, AUG. 23, 2016 is seen as a concession to smaller shareholders who complained that their payout plummeted in relation to larger investors after the pound fell following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
FILE - In this Thursday, March 5, 2015, file photo, Budweiser beer cans are seen at a concession stand at McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Fla. A British court has ruled that two groups of SABMiller shareholders should vote separately on Anheuser-Busch InBev’s 79 billion pound ($104 million) takeover, effectively giving smaller investors the outside chance to derail the deal. he decision Tuesday, AUG. 23, 2016 is seen as a concession to smaller shareholders who complained that their payout plummeted in relation to larger investors after the pound fell following Britain’s vote to leave the European Union. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Republican Gov. Bill Haslam's proposal to ban open alcohol bottles or cans in vehicles traveling on Tennessee roads has failed for the year.

Tennessee currently bans drivers from drinking alcohol while at the wheel, but does not extend that prohibition to passengers. That conflicts with federal open container guidelines, which causes about $18 million in federal road money to be redirected toward drunken-driving enforcement.

Haslam called for changing the law so the lost funds could be spent on road and bridge projects across the state, and pledged to find funding for previously dedicated to prosecutors from other sources.

But Senate Majority Leader Mark Norris says he abandoned the bill because of lack of support from his colleagues and because it was a "distraction" to the governor's larger transportation funding proposal.

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