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[Senate Report 110-138]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                       Calendar No. 291
110th Congress                                                   Report
                                 SENATE
 1st Session                                                    110-138

======================================================================

               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

       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         JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
    Virginia                         TRENT LOTT, Mississippi
JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts         KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas
BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota        OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine
BARBARA BOXER, California            GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon
BILL NELSON, Florida                 JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada
MARIA CANTWELL, Washington           JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire
FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey      JIM DeMINT, South Carolina
MARK PRYOR, Arkansas                 DAVID VITTER, Louisiana
THOMAS CARPER, Delaware              JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
CLAIRE McCASKILL, Missouri
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota
          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

                                                       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-of-hearing 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 
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 institutions 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 
closed-captioning 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.

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.

                                  
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