U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

39–010 

" ! SENATE 109TH CONGRESS

1st Session 

REPORT

2005

109–93 

Calendar No. 142 

TRAINING FOR REALTIME WRITERS ACT OF 

2005 

R E P O R T 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND 

TRANSPORTATION 

ON

S. 268 

JUNE 27, 2005.—Ordered to be printed 


congress.#13
(II) 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

TED STEVENS, Alaska, Chairman 

DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Co-Chairman 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

CONRAD BURNS, Montana 

TRENT LOTT, Mississippi 

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas 

OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine 

GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire 

JIM DEMINT, South Carolina 

DAVID VITTER, Louisiana 

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia 

JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts 

BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

BILL NELSON, Florida 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

FRANK LAUTENBERG, New Jersey 

E. BENJAMIN NELSON, Nebraska 

MARK PRYOR, Arkansas 

LISA SUTHERLAND, Staff Director 

CHRISTINE DRAGER KURTH, Deputy Staff Director 

DAVID RUSSELL, Chief Counsel 

MARGARET CUMMISKY, Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

SAMUEL WHITEHORN, Democratic Deputy Staff Director and General Counsel 

Calendar No. 142 

109TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 1st Session 109–93 

TRAINING FOR REALTIME WRITERS ACT OF 2005 

JUNE 27, 2005.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. STEVENS, from the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 

Transportation, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 268] 

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to 

which was referred the bill (S. 268) 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 with amendments and recommends that the bill 

(as amended) 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-ofhearing 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 captioning 

for 100 percent of non-exempt English language programming by 

2006 and Spanish language programming by 2010. Currently, there 

are approximately 300 English language captioners and six SpanVerDate Aug 04 2004 21:18 Jun 29, 2005 Jkt 039010 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6601 E:\HR\OC\SR093.XXX SR093
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ish language captioners in the United States who are able to consistently caption at the speed and accuracy levels necessary for 

real-time closed captioning of television programming. In order to 

ensure that this requirement is met for the over 1700 broadcast 

stations and hundreds of cable and satellite channels, the National 

Court Reporters Association estimates that thousands of additional 

captioners will be needed. This legislation would assist in fulfilling 

this Congressional requirement. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

On February 2, 2005, Senator Harkin introduced S. 268, ‘‘The 

Training for Realtime Writers Act of 2005’’. The bill has 23 cosponsors. In addition, H.R. 27, ‘‘The Job Training Improvement Act of 

2005’’, which would authorize similar funding levels for realtime 

writers, was approved by the House of Representatives on March 

2, 2005. 

On March 10, 2005, the Committee held an Executive Session at 

which S. 268 was considered. The bill was approved unanimously 

by voice vote and was ordered reported with an amendment by 

Senator Sununu. The amendment would limit administrative costs 

for the program to 5 percent of appropriated grant funds; shift 

management of the program from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to the Secretary of 

Commerce; require an annual review of the program be conducted 

by the Inspector General of the Department of Commerce, sunset 

the program in 2009; and specify $20 million as the authorization 

level for fiscal year 2009. 

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, March 15, 2005. 

Hon. TED STEVENS, 

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. 268, the Training for 

Realtime Writers Act of 2005. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Melissa E. Zimmerman. 

Sincerely, 

DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN, Director. 

Enclosure. 

S. 268—Training for Realtime Writers Act of 2005 

Summary: CBO estimates that implementing S. 268 would cost 

$67 million over the next five years, assuming the appropriation of 

the authorized amounts. The funds would be used by the Department of Commerce to provide grants to entities that train court reVerDate Aug 04 2004 22:31 Jun 29, 2005 Jkt 039010 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR093.XXX SR093
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porters, 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. 268 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. 268 is shown in the following table. For this estimate, CBO assumes that $20 million authorized to be appropriated 

for each of 2006 through 2009 will be appropriated for each fiscal 

year 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 2010 

CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION 

Authorization Level ................................................................................... 0 20 20 20 20 0 

Estimated Outlays .................................................................................... 0 2 11 16 20 18 

Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: S. 268 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: Melissa E. Zimmerman; 

Impact on State, Local, and Tribal Governments: Sarah Puro; Impact on the Private Sector: Craig Cammarato. 

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 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 to enable the Secretary 

of Commerce to provide grants to fund educational programs to 

train real-time writers. This bill will affect the estimated 

72,000,000 individuals who use close captioning services, including 

more than 28,000,000 who are deaf or hard of hearing. 

Economic impact 

Section 7 of this bill authorizes appropriations of $20 million dollars for fiscal years 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. 

Privacy 

This legislation will not have any adverse impact on the personal 

privacy of the individuals affected. 

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Paperwork 

S. 268 would require each eligible entity receiving grants to submit to the Secretary of Commerce a report describing the use of 

grant amounts and the effectiveness of activities aimed at increasing the number of real-time writers. The bill would also 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 ‘‘Training 

for Realtime Writers Act of 2005’’. 

Section 2. Findings 

Section 2 would set 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 which demonstrate 

the benefits received from closed captioning services. 

Section 3. Authorization of grant program to promote training and 

job placement of realtime writers 

Section 3 would authorize the Secretary of Commerce to provide 

grants to accredited educational institutions. Grants would be for 

a period of two years and would not exceed $1.5 million. 

Section 4. Application 

Section 4 would provide information on the application process to 

receive a grant from the Secretary of Commerce. 

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 5 

would impose a 5 percent cap on the amount of grant funds that 

the Secretary of Commerce could spend on administrative costs. 

Section 6. Reports 

Section 6 would require each entity receiving a grant to provide 

a report to the Secretary of Commerce, at the end of each year of 

the grant period and would require an annual review be conducted 

by the Inspector General of the Department of Commerce. 

Section 7. Authorization of appropriations 

Section 7 would authorize $20,000,000 dollars for each of fiscal 

years 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009. 

Section 8. Sunset 

Section 8 would repeal the Act on October 1, 2009. 

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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. 

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