BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON
BUSINESS, PROFESSIONS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Senator Jerry Hill, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 2192 Hearing Date: June 27,
2016
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|Author: |Salas |
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|Version: |June 22, 2016 |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant|Mark Mendoza |
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Subject: Court Reporters Board of California: personnel
SUMMARY: Extends the regulatory authority of the Court Reporters Board
of California (CRB or Board) and its authority to appoint an
executive officer (EO) until January 1, 2020; extends the sunset
date for the Transcription Reimbursement Fund to January 1,
2019.
Existing law:
1)Establishes the CRB within the Department of Consumer Affairs
(DCA); specifies that the CRB consists of three public members
and two certified shorthand reporters (CSRs); extends the
operation of the CRB until January 1, 2017; and, subjects the
CRB to review by the appropriate policy committees of the
Legislature. (Business and Professions Code (BPC) § 8000 et
seq.)
2)Provides that the CRB may appoint, prescribe the duties, and
fix the salary of an EO and extends the operation of the EO
until January 1, 2017. (BPC § 8005)
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3)Authorizes the CRB to administer the Transcript Reimbursement
Fund (TRF). (BPC Section 8008(g))
4)Defines the practice of shorthand reporting as the making, by
means of written symbols or abbreviations in shorthand or
machine shorthand writing, of a verbatim record of any oral
court proceeding, deposition, court ordered hearing or
arbitration, or proceeding before any grand jury, referee, or
court commissioner and the accurate transcription thereof.
(BPC § 8017)
5)Defines a "CSR" as a person who holds a valid certificate as a
shorthand reporter, provides that no other person, firm, or
corporation may assume or use the title "CSR". (BPC § 8018)
6)Requires all fees and revenue collected by the CRB to be
reported to the State Controller and be deposited with the
State Treasurer to be placed in the Court Reporters' Fund,
which fund is continued in existence in the State Treasury and
is appropriated. (BPC § 8030)
This bill:
1)Extends the sunset date for the CRB to January 1, 2020.
2)Extends the sunset date for its EO to January 1, 2020.
3)Reauthorizes the Board to use existing resources to undertake
efforts to publicize the availability of the Transcript
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Reimbursement Fund to prospective applicants through
appropriate entities serving these applicants, including the
State Bar of California, the California Commission on Access
to Justice, and the Legal Aid Association of California.
4)Authorizes the CRB to transfer funds in increments of $100,000
of the $300,000 allocated for the TRF.
5)Establishes the Pro Se Program as a permanent program within
the TRF.
6)Extends the TRF Sunset date to January 1, 2019.
7)Requires a vexatious litigant be ineligible to receive funds
from the TRF, as specified.
8)Increases the amount of money disbursed to the Pro Se Program,
within the annual $300,000 TRF amount, from $30,000 to
$75,000.
9)Requires that each reimbursement for all applicants appearing
pro se not exceed $1,500 per case.
10)Requires the CRB to prepare and submit to the Legislature, on
or before January 1, 2019, a report on the condition of the
Court Reporters' Fund, the condition of the TRF Fund, and
alternative funding sources to cover the costs associated with
transcripts provided indigent litigants, including, but not
limited to, shorthand reporting services, such as transcript
processing. Specifically, the report shall include:
a) Expenditures and claims relating to this article,
including the initial fund balance as of January 1, 2017.
b) Funds received, including the amount of, and reason for,
any refunds.
c) Claims received, including the type of case, court
involved, service for which reimbursement was sought,
amount paid, and amount denied, if any, and the reason for
denial.
d) Efforts to publicize the availability of the funds in
the TRF to prospective applicants.
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e) Administrative fees.
f) An analysis of the fund condition of the Transcript
Reimbursement Fund including a five-year projection of its
fiscal solvency based on the licensee fee level for those
years.
g) Whether the amount transferred annually to the TRF is
sufficient to maintain the fund at a level that is
sufficient to pay all qualified claims.
i) If the amount transferred annually is not sufficient
to maintain the fund at a level sufficient to pay all
qualified claims, the board shall recommend a level that
would be sufficient.
ii) If the amount transferred annually is not sufficient
to pay all qualified claims, the board shall recommend an
alternative source of funding that does not exceed more
than 25 percent of an individual licensee's renewal fee.
11)Makes other technical and conforming changes.
FISCAL EFFECT: This bill has been keyed "fiscal" by Legislative
Counsel. According to the April 27, 2016 Assembly
Appropriations Committee analysis, this bill has on-going
Special Fund costs of approximately $1.0 million (Court
Reporters Fund) to extend the Board beyond the January 1, 2017,
sunset date. This fund is self-supporting with fee revenue.
COMMENTS:
1. Purpose. The Author is the sponsor of the bill. According
to the Author,
"AB 2192 extends the sunset date of the Court Reporters Board of
California from January 1, 2017 to January 1, 2020. Without
a sunset extension, the Board will lose its statutory
authority to license and regulate court reporters.
Additionally,
AB 2192 extends and reforms the Transcript Reimbursement Fund,
which makes transcript services available to indigent
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litigants who would otherwise not have access to them."
2. Oversight Hearings and Sunset Review of Licensing Boards and
Programs. Beginning in 2016, the Senate Business and
Professions Committee and the Assembly Business and
Professions Committee (Committees) conducted joint oversight
hearings to review 12 regulatory entities: DCA, Acupuncture
Board, Board of Behavioral Sciences, California Massage
Therapy Association, Court Reporters Board, Board of
Pharmacy, Physician Assistant Board, Board of Podiatric
Medicine, Bureau of Private Postsecondary Education, Board of
Psychology, Bureau of Real Estate, Bureau of Real Estate
Appraisers, and Veterinary Medical Board.
The Committees conducted two hearings in March and joined
with the Senate Committee on Education and Assembly Committee
on Higher Education to review Bureau of Private Postsecondary
Education. This bill and the accompanying sunset bills are
intended to implement legislative changes as recommended by
staff of the Committees and which are reflected in the
background papers prepared by Committee staff for each agency
and program reviewed this year.
3. Financial Solvency. The CRB's license fee reached the
statutory limit of $125 in July 2010. This fee cap has not
changed since the CRB was established in 1951 and is no
longer viable today. As such, the CRB is facing a structural
deficit, which will lead to a decreasing reserve of 4.7
months at the end of Fiscal Year 2016-17. Last year, the CRB
attempted to secure an author for a bill to raise the fee cap
to $250, but was unsuccessful.
While there is no statutory mandatory reserve level for the
Board, the TRF cannot be funded when the Board reaches less
than six months of operating expenses in reserve. In
addition, the DCA Budget Office has historically recommended
that smaller programs maintain a contingency fund slightly
above the standard three to six months of reserve.
Maintaining an adequate reserve provides for a reasonable
contingency fund so that the Board has the fiscal resources
to absorb any unforeseen costs, such as costly enforcement
actions or other unexpected client service costs.
4. Transcript Reimbursement Fund. In 1981, the profession
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initiated legislation that created the TRF to fund payment of
court transcripts for indigent litigants in civil matters.
By law, a minimum of $300,000 of the Board's total revenue
must go to the TRF annually on July 1. The TRF consists of
the Pro Bono program and the Pro Per program that differ in
who may apply and how much monetary assistance is available
to individual cases and all cases overall. The total amount
of annual funding for the Pro Per program is $30,000, which
is quickly exhausted each year as there are enough unpaid
claims at the end of the year to appropriate the full $30,000
at the beginning of the next year, creating an ever-growing
backlog of applications. The remaining $270,000 in the TRF
is allocated to the Pro Bono program. This program runs on a
fiscal year basis and typically does not expend the full
amount.
Since its inception in 1981, the TRF has had a sunset date,
which the Legislature has continued to extend. The TRF is
currently scheduled to be repealed on January 1, 2017, and
unless legislation is passed extending that date, all
unencumbered funds remaining in the TRF, as of that date,
will be transferred to the Court Reporters Fund. The Pro Per
program began as a pilot project to expand the TRF for more
indigent litigants. This project is also scheduled to be
repealed on January 1, 2017, unless legislation extends that
date.
Given the high demand for transcript reimbursements, the
Author believes a report will provide insight into how to
better serve indigent litigants and maintain a financially
solvent TRF account.
5. Arguments in Support. The Court Reporters Board of
California writes in support that "Court reporters play an
essential role in our judicial system as a neutral third
party who creates verbatim transcripts of proceedings in a
timely fashion, thus ensuring the appeal rights of all
litigants. Under the watchful eye of the Board, court
reporters do their best, and, should any fall short, the
Board is available to step in and correct the issue and work
to ensure it does not happen again."
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SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION:
Support:
The Court Reporters Board of California
Opposition:
None on file as of June 21, 2016.
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