Thursday, April 25, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
CARSON CITY -- Smoking will now be prohibited in state vehicles, despite a warning from Gov. Bob Miller that the policy isn't feasible.
The state Board of Examiners Wednesday overrode the objections of Miller and voted 2-1 to ban smoking in state-owned cars, except those vehicles assigned to an individual employee for his or her exclusive use.
Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said she gets complaints from workers who must use cars with a smoke odor.
"The smoke gets into their clothing," she said.
At present, smoking is prohibited in a vehicle if any of the occupants object.
Miller proposed an alternative that a certain number of cars in the motor pool be set aside for non-smokers. A non-smoking policy, he said, may be feasible in Las Vegas and Reno.
But the governor said it won't work in rural areas where employees have to drive long distances. He said it would be a waste of time for a worker to get out of the car by the side of the road so he could smoke on these drives that sometimes last four to five hours.
It's ironic, Miller said, that he's on the side of smokers on this issue because he's a non-smoker and a member of the American Cancer Society.
Miller's Budget Director Perry Comeaux said the motor pool could use new chemical cleaners to remove the odor of smoke from the cars and a certain number could be set aside for non-smokers.
But Secretary of State Dean Heller, who joined with Del Papa, suggested there aren't enough cars in the motor pool to accommodate all the non-smokers. They pointed out the policy against smoking in public buildings.
Comeaux said the non-smoking policy would be unenforceable. He wondered what the penalty would be and how they would prove somebody has been puffing away in a vehicle.
The only way the policy would work, he said, would be for a person to report the smell of smoke in a car and determine who used it previously. Del Papa said the policy should be enforced just like other state regulations.
The board also approved a contract to pay $31,875 to the Doctors & Lawyers for Drug Free Youth in Oklahoma City to conduct inspections of Nevada stores to see which are selling tobacco to minors. Sting operations in the past have been conducted by police departments.
The board also approved a contract for Del Papa to pay $5,000 to the Nevada Broadcasters Association in Las Vegas to conduct a radio and television campaign to discourage tobacco sales to children.
It would put together public service announcements. Del Papa's office was given the duty last year of enforcing the law that bans sale of cigarettes to minors.
Unless the state makes progress, it could lose major federal grants.
In other action, the board agreed to pay $11,999 to the James Robinson family of Las Vegas. He and his two children were in a car pulling away from their home on Aug. 6, 1992, when two state parole and probation officers fired several shots into the vehicle.
The officers, apparently looking for parole violators, never identified themselves before shooting. No one was injured. The two officers were later dismissed.
The board also approved a $30,000 payment to Dale Stefanisko, who permanently injured his shoulder when the chair on which he was sitting in class at UNLV collapsed on Sept. 16, 1992.
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