U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1

39–010

" SENATE ! 108TH CONGRESS

2d Session 

REPORT

2004

108–399

Calendar No. 790

TRAINING FOR REALTIME WRITERS ACT 

OF 2003

REPORT

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND 

TRANSPORTATION

ON

S. 480

OCTOBER 11, 2004.—Ordered to be printed 


E:\Seals\Congress.#13
(II)

SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

ONE HUNDRED EIGHTH CONGRESS

SECOND SESSION

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona, Chairman

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

CONRAD BURNS, Montana 

TRENT LOTT, Mississippi 

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas 

OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine 

SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas 

GORDON SMITH, Oregon 

PETER G. FITZGERALD, Illinois 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

GEORGE ALLEN, Virginia 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire 

ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina 

DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii 

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia 

JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts 

JOHN B. BREAUX, Louisiana 

BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota 

RON WYDEN, Oregon 

BARBARA BOXER, California 

BILL NELSON, Florida 

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

Calendar No. 790

108TH CONGRESS REPORT " SENATE ! 2d Session 108–399

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 and recommends that the 

bill 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 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 

2

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 estiVerDate jul 14 2003 02:28 Oct 19, 2004 Jkt 039010 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR399.XXX SR399
3

mate, 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. 

4

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.

Æ