II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION 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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2005 

Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mrs. CLINTON, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. KOHL, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. LUGAR, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, and Mr. 

WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

A BILL 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Training for Realtime 

5 Writers Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 
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1 (1) As directed by Congress in section 723 of 

2 the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 613), 

3 as added by section 305 of the Telecommunications 

4 Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–104; 110 Stat. 126), 

5 the Federal Communications Commission adopted 

6 rules requiring closed captioning of most television 

7 programming, which gradually require new video 

8 programming to be fully captioned in English by 

9 2006 and Spanish by 2010. 

10 (2) More than 28,000,000 Americans, or 8 per11 cent of the population, are considered deaf or hard 

12 of hearing, and many require captioning services to 

13 participate in mainstream activities. 

14 (3) More than 24,000 children are born in the 

15 United States each year with some form of hearing 

16 loss. 

17 (4) According to the Department of Health and 

18 Human Services and a study done by the National 

19 Council on Aging— 

20 (A) 25 percent of Americans over 65 years 

21 old are hearing impaired; 

22 (B) 33 percent of Americans over 70 years 

23 old are hearing impaired; and 

24 (C) 41 percent of Americans over 75 years 

25 old are hearing impaired. 
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1 (5) The National Council on Aging study also 

2 found that depression in older adults may be directly 

3 related to hearing loss and disconnection with the 

4 spoken word. 

5 (6) Empirical research demonstrates that cap6 tions improve the performance of individuals learn7 ing to read English and, according to numerous 

8 Federal agency statistics, could benefit— 

9 (A) 3,700,000 remedial readers; 

10 (B) 12,000,000 young children learning to 

11 read; 

12 (C) 27,000,000 illiterate adults; and 

13 (D) 30,000,000 people for whom English 

14 is a second language. 

15 (7) Over the past decade, student enrollment in 

16 programs that train realtime writers and closed 

17 captioners has decreased by 50 percent, even though 

18 job placement upon graduation is 100 percent. 

19 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM TO PRO20 MOTE TRAINING AND JOB PLACEMENT OF 

21 REALTIME WRITERS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The National Telecommuni23 cations and Information Administration shall make com24 petitive grants to eligible entities under subsection (b) to 

25 promote training and placement of individuals, including 
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1 individuals who have completed a court reporting training 

2 program, as realtime writers in order to meet the require3 ments for closed captioning of video programming set 

4 forth in section 723 of the Communications Act of 1934 

5 (47 U.S.C. 613) and the rules prescribed thereunder. 

6 (b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—For purposes of this Act, 

7 an eligible entity is a court reporting program that— 

8 (1) can document and demonstrate to the Sec9 retary of Commerce that it meets minimum stand10 ards of educational and financial accountability, with 

11 a curriculum capable of training realtime writers 

12 qualified to provide captioning services; 

13 (2) is accredited by an accrediting agency rec14 ognized by the Department of Education; and 

15 (3) is participating in student aid programs 

16 under title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965. 

17 (c) PRIORITY IN GRANTS.—In determining whether 

18 to make grants under this section, the Secretary of Com19 merce shall give a priority to eligible entities that, as de20 termined by the Secretary of Commerce— 

21 (1) possess the most substantial capability to 

22 increase their capacity to train realtime writers; 

23 (2) demonstrate the most promising collabora24 tion with local educational institutions, businesses, 

25 labor organizations, or other community groups hav-
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1 ing the potential to train or provide job placement 

2 assistance to realtime writers; or 

3 (3) propose the most promising and innovative 

4 approaches for initiating or expanding training and 

5 job placement assistance efforts with respect to 

6 realtime writers. 

7 (d) DURATION OF GRANT.—A grant under this sec8 tion shall be for a period of two years. 

9 (e) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The amount of 

10 a grant provided under subsection (a) to an entity eligible 

11 may not exceed $1,500,000 for the two-year period of the 

12 grant under subsection (d). 

13 SEC. 4. APPLICATION. 

14 (a) IN GENERAL.—To receive a grant under section 

15 3, an eligible entity shall submit an application to the Na16 tional Telecommunications and Information Administra17 tion at such time and in such manner as the Administra18 tion may require. The application shall contain the infor19 mation set forth under subsection (b). 

20 (b) INFORMATION.—Information in the application of 

21 an eligible entity under subsection (a) for a grant under 

22 section 3 shall include the following: 

23 (1) A description of the training and assistance 

24 to be funded using the grant amount, including how 
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1 such training and assistance will increase the num2 ber of realtime writers. 

3 (2) A description of performance measures to 

4 be utilized to evaluate the progress of individuals re5 ceiving such training and assistance in matters relat6 ing to enrollment, completion of training, and job 

7 placement and retention. 

8 (3) A description of the manner in which the el9 igible entity will ensure that recipients of scholar10 ships, if any, funded by the grant will be employed 

11 and retained as realtime writers. 

12 (4) A description of the manner in which the el13 igible entity intends to continue providing the train14 ing and assistance to be funded by the grant after 

15 the end of the grant period, including any partner16 ships or arrangements established for that purpose. 

17 (5) A description of how the eligible entity will 

18 work with local workforce investment boards to en19 sure that training and assistance to be funded with 

20 the grant will further local workforce goals, includ21 ing the creation of educational opportunities for in22 dividuals who are from economically disadvantaged 

23 backgrounds or are displaced workers. 
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1 (6) Additional information, if any, of the eligi2 bility of the eligible entity for priority in the making 

3 of grants under section 3(c). 

4 (7) Such other information as the Administra5 tion may require. 

6 SEC. 5. USE OF FUNDS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity receiving a 

8 grant under section 3 shall use the grant amount for pur9 poses relating to the recruitment, training and assistance, 

10 and job placement of individuals, including individuals 

11 who have completed a court reporting training program, 

12 as realtime writers, including— 

13 (1) recruitment; 

14 (2) subject to subsection (b), the provision of 

15 scholarships; 

16 (3) distance learning; 

17 (4) further develop and implement both English 

18 and Spanish curriculum to more effectively train 

19 realtime writing skills, and education in the knowl20 edge necessary for the delivery of high-quality closed 

21 captioning services; 

22 (5) mentor students to ensure successful com23 pletion of the realtime training and provide assist24 ance in job placement; 
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1 (6) encourage individuals with disabilities to 

2 pursue a career in realtime writing; and 

3 (7) the employment and payment of personnel 

4 for such purposes. 

5 (b) SCHOLARSHIPS.— 

6 (1) AMOUNT.—The amount of a scholarship 

7 under subsection (a)(2) shall be based on the 

8 amount of need of the recipient of the scholarship 

9 for financial assistance, as detemined in accordance 

10 with part F of title IV of the Higher Education Act 

11 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087kk). 

12 (2) AGREEMENT.—Each recipient of a scholar13 ship under subsection (a)(2) shall enter into an 

14 agreement with the National Telecommunications 

15 and Information Administration to provide realtime 

16 writing services for a period of time (as determined 

17 by the Administration) that is appropriate (as so de18 termined) for the amount of the scholarship re19 ceived. 

20 (3) COURSEWORK AND EMPLOYMENT.—The 

21 Administration shall establish requirements for 

22 coursework and employment for recipients of schol23 arships under subsection (a)(2), including require24 ments for repayment of scholarship amounts in the 

25 event of failure to meet such requirements for 
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1 coursework and employment. Requirements for re2 payment of scholarship amounts shall take into ac3 count the effect of economic conditions on the capac4 ity of scholarship recipients to find work as realtime 

5 writers. 

6 (c) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The recipient of a 

7 grant under section 3 may not use more than 5 percent 

8 of the grant amount to pay administrative costs associated 

9 with activities funded by the grant. 

10 (d) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Grant amounts 

11 under this Act shall supplement and not supplant other 

12 Federal or non-Federal funds of the grant recipient for 

13 purposes of promoting the training and placement of indi14 viduals as realtime writers. 

15 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

16 (a) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Each eligible entity receiv17 ing a grant under section 3 shall submit to the National 

18 Telecommunications and Information Administration, at 

19 the end of each year of the grant period, a report on the 

20 activities of such entity with respect to the use of grant 

21 amounts during such year. 

22 (b) REPORT INFORMATION.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each report of an entity for 

24 a year under subsection (a) shall include a descrip25 tion of the use of grant amounts by the entity dur-
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1 ing such year, including an assessment by the entity 

2 of the effectiveness of activities carried out using 

3 such funds in increasing the number of realtime 

4 writers. The assessment shall utilize the performance 

5 measures submitted by the entity in the application 

6 for the grant under section 4(b). 

7 (2) FINAL REPORT.—The final report of an en8 tity on a grant under subsection (a) shall include a 

9 description of the best practices identified by the en10 tity as a result of the grant for increasing the num11 ber of individuals who are trained, employed, and re12 tained in employment as realtime writers. 

13 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

14 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

15 this Act, amounts as follows: 

16 (1) $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2006, 

17 2007, and 2008. 

18 (2) Such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 

19 year 2009. 

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