U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON : 

1 

59–010 

" ! SENATE 110TH CONGRESS

1st Session 

REPORT 

2007

110–138 

Calendar No. 291 

TRAINING FOR REAL-TIME WRITERS ACT OF 

2007 

R E P O R T 

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND 

TRANSPORTATION 

ON

S. 675 

JULY 31, 2007.—Ordered to be printed 


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SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Chairman 

TED STEVENS, Alaska, Vice-Chairman 

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 R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey 

MARK PRYOR, Arkansas 

THOMAS CARPER, Delaware 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota 

JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona 

TRENT LOTT, Mississippi 

KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas 

OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine 

GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon 

JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire 

JIM DEMINT, South Carolina 

DAVID VITTER, Louisiana 

JOHN THUNE, South Dakota 

MARGARET CUMMISKY, Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

LILA HELMS, Deputy Staff Director and Policy Director 

JEAN TOAL EISEN, Senior Professional Staff 

CHRISTINE KURTH, Republican Staff Director and General Counsel 

KENNETH NAHIGIAN, Republican Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel 


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59–010 

Calendar No. 291 

110TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 1st Session 110–138 

TRAINING FOR REAL-TIME WRITERS ACT OF 2007 

JULY 31, 2007.—Ordered to be printed 

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

Transportation, submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 675] 

The Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, to 

which was referred the bill (S. 675) 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 30 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, millions of 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. In order to ensure that 

this requirement is met for the over 1,700 broadcast stations and 


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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

The Senate passed this legislation in the 107th Congress as an 

amendment to the CAN–SPAM Act of 2003, but was dropped in 

conference. Similar measures were also approved by unanimous 

consent by the Senate in both the 108th and 109th Congresses. 

On February 16, 2007, Senator Harkin introduced S. 675, ‘‘The 

Training for Realtime Writers Act of 2007.’’ The bill has 15 cosponsors. 

On April 25, 2007, the Committee held an Executive Session at 

which S. 675 was considered. The bill was approved unanimously 

by voice vote and was ordered reported with one amendment offered by the Chairman to make technical corrections. 

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: 

S. 675—Training for Realtime Writers Act of 2007 

Summary: CBO estimates that implementing S. 675 would cost 

$69 million over the next five years, assuming appropriation of the 

authorized amounts. Funds would be used by the Department of 

Commerce to provide grants to eligible entities to increase the 

number of realtime writers available to provide closed-captioning 

services for video programming. The grants would be used by 

court-reporting programs for both training and job-placement assistance. 

Enacting this bill would not affect direct spending or revenues. 

S. 675 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as 

defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA); the bill 

could benefit public institutions of higher education. 

Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated budgetary impact of S. 675 is shown in the following table. For this estimate, CBO assumes that $20 million authorized to be appropriated 

for each of fiscal years 2008 through 2012 will be appropriated for 

each 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— 

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 

CHANGES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION 

Authorization level ........................................................................................................ 20 20 20 20 20 

Estimated outlays ......................................................................................................... 2 11 16 20 20 

Intergovernmental and private-sector impact: S. 675 contains no 

intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA. 

The bill would authorize grant funds that could benefit public instiVerDate Aug 31 2005 06:08 Aug 06, 2007 Jkt 059010 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR138.XXX SR138

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tutions of higher education. Any costs they might incur would result from complying with conditions of federal assistance. 

Estimate prepared by: Federal Costs: Susan Willie; Impact on 

State, Local, and Tribal Governments: Elizabeth Cove; Impact on 

the Private Sector: Craig Cammarata. 

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 would provide an authorization of appropriations 

for the fiscal years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 to enable the 

Secretary of Commerce to provide grants to fund educational programs to train real-time writers. This bill would affect all individuals who use closed-captioning services, including more than 30 

million who are deaf or hard of hearing. 

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Section 7 of this bill would authorize appropriations of $20 million dollars for fiscal years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. 

PRIVACY

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

PAPERWORK

S. 675 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 states the short title of the legislation, the ‘‘Training 

for Realtime Writers Act of 2007’’. 

Section 2: Findings 

Section 2 creates Congressional findings on the need for closedcaptioning services. The findings detail the history of the Federal 

Communications Commission’s rules requiring closed captioning 

and accompanying studies which demonstrate the benefits received 

from closed captioning services. 


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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 establish criteria for grants submitted to the Department of Commerce and an application process. 

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 million for each of fiscal years 

2008 through 2012. 

Section 8: Sunset 

Section 8 would provide a definitive date for the end of the program, corresponding to the last day of the fifth fiscal year in which 

funds are to be appropriated. 

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 


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