TEXTING UPDATE:  On July 5, the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council and the Defense Acquisition Regulations Council issued a final rule encouraging federal contractors to prohibit their employees from texting while driving government vehicles or while driving on government business.  This rule amends the Federal Acquisition Regulation as a result of Executive Order 13513 which prohibits federal employees from text messaging while driving on official business.  EO 13513 also directs federal agencies to encourage federal contractors to forbid their employees from texting while driving on official government business.  The rule takes effect 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.  The text of the final rule may be accessed at http://op.bna.com/dlrcases.nsf/r?Open=gcii-8jcmsh.  In light of this new rule, any lawsuit filed as a result of an accident in which the employee of a federal contractor is texting at the time of the accident will certainly point to the rule and if the contractor in question has not added such a prohibition to its employee manual, the failure to do so will undoubtedly be alleged to be negligence.  Contractors who are performing work for the federal government should make this change to their employee manual as soon as possible and it is a good idea for all Nebraska contractors to do so in light of LB 945 which was signed into law by Governor Heineman on April 13, 2010 and which contained a similar prohibition.  Failure to make this change to employee handbooks now could result in expensive litigation in the future.         By Bill Harding, Chapter Attorney