BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2192|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2192
Author: Salas (D), et al.
Amended: 8/15/16 in Senate
Vote: 27
SENATE BUS., PROF. & ECON. DEV. COMMITTEE: 7-1, 6/27/16
AYES: Hill, Block, Gaines, Galgiani, Hernandez, Jackson,
Mendoza
NOES: Bates
NO VOTE RECORDED: Wieckowski
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-2, 8/11/16
AYES: Lara, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza
NOES: Bates, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 5/31/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Court Reporters Board of California: Shorthand
reporters fees: Transcript Reimbursement Fund
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill 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; and extends the sunset date for the Transcription
Reimbursement Fund to January 1, 2020.
ANALYSIS:
AB 2192
Page 2
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)
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:
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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 TRF 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 and increases the amount of money disbursed to the Pro
Se Program, within the annual $300,000 TRF amount, from
$30,000 to $75,000.
6)Extends the TRF Sunset date to January 1, 2020.
7)Requires that each reimbursement for all applicants appearing
pro se not exceed $1,500 per case.
8)Requires the CRB to prepare and submit to the Legislature, on
or before November 1, 2018, 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.
9)Raises the renewal fee limit to be assessed by the CRB from
$125 to $250.
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Background
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 litigants who would otherwise not have
access to them."
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.
Transcript Reimbursement Fund. In 1981, the profession
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
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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.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: Yes Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, this bill will
incur ongoing costs for the continued operation of the CRB,
ongoing costs for the continued operation of the TRF, and an
increase in fee revenues from the fee increase.
SUPPORT: (Verified8/11/16)
Affordable Housing Advocates
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Bet Tzedek Legal Services
California Court Reporters Association
California Rural legal Assistance Foundation
California Women's Law Center
Coalition of California Welfare Rights Organizations
Court Reporters Board of California
Disability Rights California
Family Violence Appellate Project
Impact Fund
Justice and Diversity Center of the State Bar
Legal Aid Association of California
Legal Aid of Marin
Legal Aid of Sonoma County
Legal Aid Society of Orange County
OneJustice
Public Advocates
Public Counsel
Western Center for Law and Poverty
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/11/16)
None received
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The CRB writes in support of this
bill, noting 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."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 5/31/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth
Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto,
Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper,
Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim,
Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis,
AB 2192
Page 7
Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting,
Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
Prepared by:Mark Mendoza / B., P. & E.D. / (916) 651-4104
8/15/16 20:10:16
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