And it’s not just truck drivers who are now officially prohibited from texting while driving. Bus drivers are also included in the ban, recently announced by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

When does the ban take effect? Immediately.

Nobody on LaHood’s team apparently believed the measure needed comment, feedback or even a waiting period.

This new ban follows a similar one in December for drivers of federal government vehicles.

“We want the drivers of big rigs and buses and those who share the roads with them to be safe,” LaHood said. “This is an important safety step and we will be taking more to eliminate the threat of distracted driving.”

The consequences are costly. Bus or truck drivers caught texting while driving face  fines of up to $2,750.

The National Safety Council, a research and advocacy group, estimates that 200,000 crashes of all types on U.S. roads are caused by drivers who are texting.

Almost two dozen U.S. states ban texting while driving for all motor vehicles and others are considering similar action. Legislation has also been introduced in Congress to prohibit the practice.

Many U.S. companies also ban texting by their employees while driving on the job.

The ban against federal employees texting while driving also carried the caveat that anyone who does business with the government as a contractor is also supposed to obey the rule.

If you guessed “the government,” you win.

Here’s the story, unbelievable as it may sound: The federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing (the group that designs our currency, among other things) issues about 530 personal printers to senior employees who handle sensitive information.

And when the bureau needed to cut costs, it decided to consolidate office printers and get by with a few secure, networked printers.

The new printers could be set to hold a print jobs securely until the employee who sent it walks up and enters a PIN number. A good plan, but here’s where things get interesting:

Instead of asking (or telling) the employees to turn in the federally owned printers, the agency offered $75 gift cards to employees for handing the printers over — essentially buying back their own equipment.

Some government watchdogs did the math and figured out the plan would cost taxpayers around $40,000 for something that could easily be done for free — by just telling the employees to turn in their printers.

Representative Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said the plan “defied common sense,” the Washington Post reports.

After the outcry, the BEP cancelled the program — not just the gift card portion, they cancelled the entire plan to swap the printers.

So I guess the senior workers got to keep their private printers after all.

Every day, millions of people in the United States send text messages while driving. For many, the practice is coming to a screeching halt, because the country’s biggest employer has banned it.

Federal government employees are now prohibited, as per an executive order signed by President Obama, from the controversial practice. The president’s also encouraging federal contractors to do the same.

Here’s what the new rules means to federal employees:

• No texting while driving a government car, and
• No texting while driving your own car if you’re on government business or using a government-issued phone.

Obama signed the order Wednesday night, after a two-day meeting in D.C. on distracted driving. U.S. Transportation secretary Ray LaHood announced the ban on Thursday.

There’s been a lot of heat recently about texting and driving — as if just making calls and talking on the phone behind the wheel wasn’t enough of a problem.

While the order doesn’t force federal contractors to enact such a ban on their workers, it encourages anyone who does business with the government to bar their employees from texting while driving company vehicles.

Consider that “encouragement” a shot across the proverbial bow of all companies that want to do business with the feds: A law could soon be on its way mandating that to get a government contract, you must have one of these bans in place at your company.

The Transportation Administration is also currently drafting permanent restrictions on use of mobile devices by rail operators, interstate truck and bus operators, and school bus drivers.

The ban won’t have much impact in Obama’s new hometown — D.C. The district and 18  states have already banned texting while driving. Your state may or may not have a ban or restrictions on the activity.

To get a state-by-state overview of cellphone/driving laws and find out what the rules are in the states where your employees work, visit the Governors’ Highway Safety Association.

The new rule demands all companies working on federal contracts  electronically check the legal working status of employees through the Department of Homeland Security’s E-Verify system.

It was set to go into effect Jan 15, but has been postponed until Feb. 20 because the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is pushing back on its legality.

Needless to say, the folks at the chamber are thrilled and they’re hoping that President-elect Barack Obama will nix the requirement all together.

The rule as it stands now:  any company on a federal contract has to use an Internet-based system that checks the names and Social Security numbers of all its workers against Social Security Administration and DHS data.

The system either confirms  the information matches or gives the employer a “tentative non-conformation.”

Then it is up to the employee to resolve any problems with Social Security Administration officials. If the mismatch isn’t cleared up and the employee remains with the company, the employer could lose its federal contracts.

Currently, the use of E-Verify is voluntary and applies only to new hires. But the new law changes that and businesses are howling that the extra work and bother is the last thing they need in this lousy economy.

The lawsuit challenges an Executive Order (read: Bush mandate) making E-Verify mandatory for federal contractors with projects exceeding $100,000 and for sub-contractors with projects exceeding $3,000. In short, just about everyone who does business with the feds.

And considering the stimulus package the new president’s proposing, that could mean even more businesses would get hit by the rule. With IT a big part of the new president’s agenda, it could be a big headache for shops looking to add staff for new initiatives or projects.

Is now the right time to load more federal regs on struggling businesses? Your thoughts…

While most companies might look at blogging on the job as a productivity-wasting activity, Federal agencies have other worries. If the blogging is political, it could be a violation of the Hatch Act, which is aimed at keeping government agencies from influencing elections.

Apparently, the NASA employee hadn’t read the law. He blogged, sent e-mail and solicited contributions for candidates on the job using his work e-mail and computer.

“There was time when the Hatch Act was about wearing campaign buttons in the office, or engaging in political activity while on duty, wearing an official uniform, or in a government vehicle,” said Special Counsel Scott Bloch. “Today, modern office technology multiplies the opportunities for employees to abuse their positions and, as in this serious case, to be penalized, even removed from their job, with just a few clicks of a mouse.”

No details about the political affiliation of the suspended employee were released in the Special Counsel’s announcement of the incident, which you can read here.

Here’s some help for those at small businesses, courtesy of the Feds.

Small business taxpayers will never again have to worry about when the next payment or filing’s due if they just log on to the IRS Web site and download the Federal Tax Calendar into their own desktop calendar.

With the information downloaded, the dates will literally be at their fingertips — as long as they use either Microsoft Outlook or Apple iCal calendars.

Click here for instructions on how to get this free service.