Bill Restricting Cellphones In Cars Fails

DENVER (AP) - Restrictions on cellphone use while driving in Colorado won't advance this year after lawmakers missed a deadline to vote on the bill.

With the bill, Colorado would've joined 12 states and the District of Columbia in requiring drivers to use a hands-free device while talking on the phone.

House lawmakers had already rejected the bill in committee weeks ago, but they left the door open to vote on it again because they didn't approve shelving it for the year.

Aurora Democratic Rep. Jovan Melton, the bill sponsor, had worked on amending his bill to consider it again. But he explained to his colleagues Thursday that he recently found out the deadline to reconsider the bill had passed, so the proposal is effectively dead.