Panel to consider ban on state workers texting while driving

By Cy Ryan

Friday, Nov. 5, 2010 | 3:48 p.m.

CARSON CITY – A new policy to prohibit state workers from texting while driving government vehicles will come up next week before the state Board of Examiners.

State Budget Director Andrew Clinger said he agreed with the policy on the recommendation of the state’s Office of Risk Management.

Clinger said it's a preventive measure and he doesn’t know of any incidents caused by employees texting while in a state vehicle.

There is no penalty attached to the policy. The examiners board meets Tuesday.

Gov. Jim Gibbons, the board's chairman, is expected to attend by telephone. He is recovering at the governor’s mansion from a broken pelvis following a horse riding accident.

There are several requests for bills in the upcoming Legislature to outlaw texting while driving.

Also on the agenda of the examiners board is a $450,000 settlement involving the death of an inmate at the state prison in Ely. The survivors and the estate of prisoner Patrick Cavanaugh filed suit and a settlement was reached.