Senate Report 108-399 - TRAINING FOR REALTIME WRITERS ACT OF 2003

[Senate Report 108-399]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

108th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 108-399
_______________________________________________________________________

Calendar No. 790

TRAINING FOR REALTIME WRITERS ACT OF 2003

__________

R E P O R T

of the

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND

TRANSPORTATION

S. H.R. deg. 480

DATE deg.October 11, 2004.--Ordered to be printed
SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION
one hundred eighth congress
second session

JOHN McCAIN, Arizona, Chairman
TED STEVENS, Alaska ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina
CONRAD BURNS, Montana DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii
TRENT LOTT, Mississippi JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West
KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas Virginia
OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts
SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana
GORDON SMITH, Oregon BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota
PETER G. FITZGERALD, Illinois RON WYDEN, Oregon
JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada BARBARA BOXER, California
GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia BILL NELSON, Florida
JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire MARIA CANTWELL, Washington
FRANK LAUTENBERG, New Jersey
Jeanne Bumpus, Staff Director and General Counsel
Rob Freeman, Deputy Staff Director
Robert W. Chamberlin, Chief Counsel
Kevin D. Kayes, Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel
xxxxx xxxxx, Democratic General Counsel deg.

Calendar No. 790
108th Congress Report
SENATE
2d Session 108-399

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TRAINING FOR REALTIME WRITERS ACT OF 2003

_______

October 11, 2004.--Ordered to be printed

_______

Mr. McCain, from the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation, submitted the following

R E P O R T

[To accompany S. 480]

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to
which was referred the bill (S. 480) to provide competitive
grants for training court reporters and closed captioners to
meet requirements for realtime writers under the
Telecommunications Act of 1996, and for other purposes, having
considered the same, reports favorably thereon without
amendment with amendments deg. with an
amendment (in the nature of a substitute) deg. and recommends
that the bill joint resolution deg. (as
amended) deg. do pass.

PURPOSE OF THE BILL

The primary objective of this legislation is to allow
funding to be made available for the purpose of training real-
time writers qualified to provide captioning services.

BACKGROUND AND NEEDS

There are over 28 million deaf or hard-of-hearing Americans
who rely on closed captioning to get news and other vital
information. Closed captioning also opens the world to the deaf
and hard-of-hearing by allowing them to interact and
participate in civic and personal events. Further, an
additional 72 million Americans benefit from closed captioning
including remedial readers, young children learning to read,
and individuals learning English as a second language.
When Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 it
required that all video programming distributors provide 100
percent captioned video programming by 2006 for all nonexempt
programming created after 1998. The National Court Reporters
Association has estimated that up to 3,000 English language
captioners will be needed to fulfill the 100 percent
requirement. Currently there are about 300 captioners who can
consistently write 180 words per minute with an accuracy rate
of at least 98.5 percent for over 1,700 television stations in
the United States. This legislation would assist in fulfilling
the Congressional requiasrement.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

On February 27, 2003, Senator Harkin introduced S. 480, the
``Training for Realtime Writers Act of 2003''. The bill has 45
cosponsors. One other bill relating to the funding for real-
time writers has been introduced during the 108th Congress. The
bill is H.R. 970, introduced by Representative Kind and
cosponsored by 131 members of the House of Representatives.
On September 22, 2004, the Committee met in Executive
Session and voted to report the bill favorably to the full
Senate.

ESTIMATED COSTS

In accordance with paragraph 11(a) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate and section 403 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974, the Committee provides the
following cost estimate, prepared by the Congressional Budget
Office:

U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, September 28, 2004.
Hon. John McCain,
Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, U.S.
Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 480, the Training
for Realtime Writers Act of 2003.
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Susanne
Mehlman.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth M. Robinson
(For Douglas Holtz-Eakin, Director.)
Enclosure.

S. 480--Training for Realtime Writers Act of 2003

Summary: CBO estimates that implementing this legislation
would cost $40 million over the next five years, assuming the
appropriation of the authorized amounts. The funds would be
used by the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration (NTIA) to provide grants to entities that train
court reporters, including court reporters who have completed
training programs for realtime writers. The grants would be
used to promote training and job placement for such
individuals.
Enacting this bill would not affect direct spending or
revenues. S. 480 contains no intergovernmental or private-
sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
(UMRA); any costs to state, local, or tribal governments would
result from complying with conditions of federal assistance.
Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated
budgetary impact of S. 480 is shown in the following table. For
this estimate, CBO assumes that $20 million authorized to be
appropriated for both 2005 and 2006 will be appropriated and
that outlays will follow historical trends for similar
programs. The costs of this legislation fall within budget
function 370 (commerce and housing credit).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
--------------------------------------------
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION

Authorization Level................................................ 20 20 0 0 0
Estimated Outlays.................................................. 2 11 14 9 4
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: S. 480
contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as
defined in UMRA; any costs to state, local, or tribal
governments would result from complying with conditions of
federal assistance.
Estimate prepared by: Federal Costs: Susanne S. Mehlman;
Impact on State, Local, and Tribal Governments: Sarah Puro;
Impact on the Private Sector: Jean Talarico.
Estimate approved by: Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant
Director for Budget Analysis.

REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENT

In accordance with paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee provides the
following evaluation of the regulatory impact of the
legislation, as reported:

Number of persons covered

The legislation provides an authorization of appropriations
for the fiscal years 2004, 2005, 2006 and makes funds available
for fiscal year 2007 to enable the National Telecommunications
and Information Administration (NTIA) to provide grants to fund
educational programs to train real-time writers. This bill will
affect more then 28,000,000 deaf or hard of hearing individuals
as well as 72,000,000 individuals who use closed captioning
services.

Economic impact

Section 7 of this bill authorizes appropriations of $20
million for fiscal years 2004, 2005, 2006 and makes funds
available for 2007.

Privacy

This legislation will not have any adverse impact on the
personal privacy of the individuals affected.

Paperwork

S. 480 would require each eligible entity receiving grants
to submit to the NTIA a report describing the use of grant
amounts and the effectiveness of activities aimed at increasing
the number of real-time writers. The bill also would require a
final report by each entity receiving grants on best practices
for increasing the number of individuals who are trained,
employed, and retained in employment as real-time writers.

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Short title

Section 1 would provide that the bill may be cited as the
``Training for Realtime Writers Act of 2003''.

Section 2. Findings

Section 2 sets forth Congressional findings on the need for
closed captioning services. The findings detail the history of
the Federal Communications Commission's adopted rules requiring
closed-captioning and its accompanying studies that demonstrate
the benefit that affected people receive from closed captioning
services.

Section 3. Authorization of grant program to promote training and job
placement of realtime writers

Section 3 would authorize the NTIA to provide grants to
accredited educational institutions. Grants would be for a
period of two years and not exceed $1.5 million.

Section 4. Application

Section 4 would provide information on the application
process to receive a grant from NTIA.

Section 5. Use of funds

Section 5 would set forth the requirements for the use of
funds for entities receiving grants. Grants would be used for
recruitment, training and assistance, and job placement for
individuals who have completed a court reporting training
program.

Section 6. Reports

Section 6 would require each entity receiving a grant to
provide a report to NTIA, at the end of each year of the grant
period.

Section 7. Authorization of appropriations

Section 7 would authorize $20,000,000 for each of fiscal
years 2004, 2005, 2006, and make funds available if necessary
for fiscal year 2007.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with paragraph 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate, the Committee states that the
bill as reported would make no change to existing law.