A bill in the Connecticut General Assembly that would have prohibited open containers of alcohol in vehicles has died.

It remained in the Joint Committee on Finance, Revenue and Bonding at the close of the session that ended May 5, effectively killing the bill for the year.

Under Connecticut law, drivers are prohibited from having an open alcoholic beverage, but passengers are free to drink while in the vehicle.

SB25, sponsored by Sen. Edith Prague, D-Columbia, sought to eliminate the open container provision.

Currently, the state is required to spend a chunk of its federal highway funds on traffic safety because the state doesn’t have a ban on open containers of alcohol in vehicles.

The state is one of only 14 nationwide that allows passengers to drink; last year, that distinction pulled 3 percent, or $5.7 million, out of the highway construction budget and put it to other uses, Hartford’s WFSB TV reported.

The federal government mandated in 2001 that states either pass open container laws or spend a percentage of federal highway dollars on public safety projects such as installing cables to prevent crossover accidents and drunken driving checkpoints.

“It’s not designed as a punishment but it is a transfer from one use to another,” said Tim Hurd, a spokesman for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. “If safety is diminished by the fact they don’t have an open-container law, some funds have to be used for enforcement programs or the reduction of hazards.”