DAN MORALES 

Al-rORNEI GENERAL 

QBffice of ttp $?Wmep &kneral 

Mate of Qexae 

November 25,199l 

Honorable Merrill L Hartman 

Court Reporters Ckrtification Board 

P.O. Box 13131, Capitol Station 

Austin, Texas 78711-3131 

Opiion No. DM-58 

Re: Whether the Court Reporters Certification Board may consider an application for certification under Govemment Code section 52.021(e) after the 

effective date of repeal of that provision, 

when consideration of the application began before the repeal date (RQ-176) 

Dear Judge Hartmam 

You have requested an opinion from this office concerning the repeal 

e&dive Sepmmber l, 1991, of section 52.021(e) of the Government Code. Former 

section 52.021(e) provided the following: 

(e) A person who has successfully completed a registered 

professional reporter% examination administered by the 

National Shortband Reporters hation having standards and 

requirements equivalent to or more dif3icult than those 

presaii by this chapter, who has made proper application for 

and successfully passed Part B of the certification examination 

admikstered by the Court Reporters Certification Board, and 

who has been actively engaged in the practice of shorthand 

reporting while maintaining continuous membership in the 

national association is entitled to be certitkd to the supreme 

court in the manner provided by Section 52.024. 

‘The act repealing this provision, House Bill 1417, states in section 2 that it 

takes effect September 1.1991, ~JUI applies on& to cti@atiom 

by the Ciwt Reporters Cedjicatron Bod to the supreme wwt . . . 

maa’e on or &er ti date. A cert#ication made under Chapter 

52, Government Code, before September 1.1991, is governed by 

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Honorable Merrill L Hartman - Page 2 (DX-58) 

the law as it existed on the date the certification was made, and 

that law is continued in effect for that purpose. 

Acts 1991,72d Leg., ch. 799,s 2, at 2809 (emphasis added). 

Your request to us is prompted by the following situation. A subcommittee 

of the board first considered an application for certification under section 52.021(e) 

before September 1.1991. However, the subcommittee of the board, being unable 

to reach a consensus on the applicant’s qualifications, postponed further 

consideration of the application until a future board meeting. As no consensus was 

reached on the application in question, the board has not certified the applicant to 

the supreme court. September 1, 1991 has now passed, and you ask whether the 

board may continue to consider the application under repealed section 52.021(e). 

We conclude that it may not. 

We find that the savings clause in House Bill 1417 was only intended to 

apply to applications actually pending in the supreme court as of September 1,199l. 

House Bill 1417 clearly’provides that section 52.021(e) continues in effect only as to 

certifications made by the Court Reporters Certification Board to the’supreme court 

before. September 1.1991. Id ’ If the board had certified the individual in question 

to the supreme court prior to September 1, the applicant would have been entitled 

to a certificate under former provision 52.021(e). However, such is not the case; as 

of September 1, the board had not certified the applicant to the supreme court. 

Accordingly, thii particular application may ‘not be considered by the board under 

section 52.023(e). De fact that the applicant in question submitted ti application 

to the board piior to September 1 does not alter this result. 

SUMMARY 

The Court Reporters Certification Board may not continue 

to consider an application for certification under now-repealed 

section 52.021(e) of the Government Code. Section 52.021(e) 

continues in effect only as to applications for certification that 

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Honorable Merrill L. Hartman - Page 3 (DM-58) 

were pending before the supreme court prior to September 1, 

1991. 

DAN MORALES 

Attorney General of Texas 

WILL PRYOR 

First Assistant Attorney General 

MARY KELLER 

Deputy Assistant Attorney General 

JUDGE ZOLLIE STEAKLEY (Ret) 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

RENEA HICKS 

Special Assistant Attorney General 

MADELEINE B. JOHNSON 

Chair, Opinion Committee 

Prepared by Faith Steinberg 

Assistant Attorney General 

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