II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION 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. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 16, 2007 

Mr. HARKIN (for himself, Mr. GRASSLEY, Mr. COCHRAN, Mr. DODD, Mr. 

DURBIN, Mr. KERRY, Mr. KOHL, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Ms. 

SNOWE, and Ms. STABENOW) 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 2007’’. 

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 began en6 forcing rules requiring full closed captioning of most 

7 English television programming on January 1, 2006. 

8 (2) The Federal Communications Commission 

9 rules also require that video programming be fully 

10 captioned in Spanish by 2010. 

11 (3) More than 30,000,000 Americans are con12 sidered deaf or hard of hearing, and many require 

13 captioning services to participate in mainstream ac14 tivities. 

15 (4) The National Institute on Deafness and 

16 other Communication Disorders estimates that 1 in 

17 3 Americans over the age of 60 has already experi18 enced hearing loss. The 79,000,000 Americans who 

19 are identified as ‘‘baby boomers’’ represent 39 per20 cent of the population of the United States and most 

21 baby boomers began to reach age 60 just in the last 

22 few years. 

23 (5) Closed captioning is a continuous source of 

24 emergency information for people in mass transit 

25 and other congregate settings. 


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1 (6) Empirical research studies since 1988 dem2 onstrate that captions improve the performance of 

3 individuals learning to read English. 

4 SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM TO PRO5 MOTE TRAINING AND JOB PLACEMENT OF 

6 REALTIME WRITERS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce shall 

8 make competitive grants to eligible entities under sub9 section (b) to promote training and placement of individ10 uals, including individuals who have completed a court re11 porting training program, as realtime writers in order to 

12 meet the requirements for closed captioning of video pro13 gramming set forth in section 723 of the Communications 

14 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 613) and the rules prescribed 

15 thereunder. 

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

17 an eligible entity is a court reporting program that— 

18 (1) can document and demonstrate to the Sec19 retary of Commerce that it meets minimum stand20 ards of educational and financial accountability, with 

21 a curriculum capable of training realtime writers 

22 qualified to provide captioning services; 

23 (2) is accredited by an accrediting agency rec24 ognized by the Department of Education; and 


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1 (3) is participating in student aid programs 

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

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

4 to make grants under this section, the Secretary of Com5 merce shall give a priority to eligible entities that, as de6 termined by the Secretary— 

7 (1) possess the most substantial capability to 

8 increase their capacity to train realtime writers; 

9 (2) demonstrate the most promising collabora10 tion with local educational institutions, businesses, 

11 labor organizations, or other community groups hav12 ing the potential to train or provide job placement 

13 assistance to realtime writers; or 

14 (3) propose the most promising and innovative 

15 approaches for initiating or expanding training or 

16 job placement assistance efforts with respect to 

17 realtime writers. 

18 (d) DURATION OF GRANT.—A grant under this sec19 tion shall be for a period of 2 years. 

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

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

22 may not exceed $1,500,000 for the 2-year period of the 

23 grant under subsection (d). 


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1 SEC. 4. APPLICATION. 

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

3 3, an eligible entity shall submit an application to the Sec4 retary of Commerce at such time and in such manner as 

5 the secretary may require. The application shall contain 

6 the information set forth under subsection (b). 

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

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

9 section 3 shall include the following: 

10 (1) A description of the training and assistance 

11 to be funded using the grant amount, including how 

12 such training and assistance will increase the num13 ber of realtime writers. 

14 (2) A description of performance measures to 

15 be utilized to evaluate the progress of individuals re16 ceiving such training and assistance in matters relat17 ing to enrollment, completion of training, and job 

18 placement and retention. 

19 (3) A description of the manner in which the el20 igible entity will ensure that recipients of scholar21 ships, if any, funded by the grant will be employed 

22 and retained as realtime writers. 

23 (4) A description of the manner in which the el24 igible entity intends to continue providing the train25 ing and assistance to be funded by the grant after 


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1 the end of the grant period, including any partner2 ships or arrangements established for that purpose. 

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

4 work with local workforce investment boards to en5 sure that training and assistance to be funded with 

6 the grant will further local workforce goals, includ7 ing the creation of educational opportunities for in8 dividuals who are from economically disadvantaged 

9 backgrounds or are displaced workers. 

10 (6) Additional information, if any, of the eligi11 bility of the eligible entity for priority in the making 

12 of grants under section 3(c). 

13 (7) Such other information as the Secretary 

14 may require. 

15 SEC. 5. USE OF FUNDS. 

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

17 grant under section 3 shall use the grant amount for pur18 poses relating to the recruitment, training and assistance, 

19 and job placement of individuals, including individuals 

20 who have completed a court reporting training program, 

21 as realtime writers, including— 

22 (1) recruitment; 

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

24 scholarships; 

25 (3) distance learning; 


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1 (4) further developing and implementing both 

2 English and Spanish curriculum to more effectively 

3 train realtime writing skills, and education in the 

4 knowledge necessary for the delivery of high-quality 

5 closed captioning services; 

6 (5) mentoring students to ensure successful 

7 completion of the realtime training and provide as8 sistance in job placement; 

9 (6) encouraging individuals with disabilities to 

10 pursue a career in realtime writing; and 

11 (7) the employment and payment of personnel 

12 for all such purposes. 

13 (b) SCHOLARSHIPS.— 

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

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

16 amount of need of the recipient of the scholarship 

17 for financial assistance, as determined in accordance 

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

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

20 (2) AGREEMENT.—Each recipient of a scholar21 ship under subsection (a)(2) shall enter into an 

22 agreement with the school in which the recipient is 

23 enrolled to provide realtime writing services for a pe24 riod of time appropriate (as determined by the SecVerDate Aug 31 2005 21:45 Feb 22, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S675.IS S675

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1 retary of Commerce or the Secretary’s designee) for 

2 the amount of the scholarship received. 

3 (3) COURSEWORK AND EMPLOYMENT.—The 

4 Secretary of Commerce or the Secretary’s designee 

5 shall establish requirements for coursework and em6 ployment for recipients of scholarships under sub7 section (a)(2), including requirements for repayment 

8 of scholarship amounts in the event of failure to 

9 meet such requirements for coursework and employ10 ment. Requirements for repayment of scholarship 

11 amounts shall take into account the effect of eco12 nomic conditions on the capacity of scholarship re13 cipients to find work as realtime writers. 

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

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

16 of the grant amount to pay administrative costs associated 

17 with activities funded by the grant. The Secretary shall 

18 use not more than 5 percent of the amount available for 

19 grants under this Act in any fiscal year for administrative 

20 costs of the program. 

21 (d) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Grants amounts 

22 under this Act shall supplement and not supplant other 

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

24 purposes of promoting the training and placement of indi25 viduals as realtime writers. 


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1 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

2 (a) ANNUAL REPORTS.—Each eligible entity receiv3 ing a grant under section 3 shall submit to the Secretary 

4 of Commerce, at the end of each year of the grant period, 

5 a report on the activities of such entity with respect to 

6 the use of grant amounts during such year. 

7 (b) REPORT INFORMATION.— 

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

9 a year under subsection (a) shall include a descrip10 tion of the use of grant amounts by the entity dur11 ing such year, including an assessment by the entity 

12 of the effectiveness of activities carried out using 

13 such funds in increasing the number of realtime 

14 writers. The assessment shall utilize the performance 

15 measures submitted by the entity in the application 

16 for the grant under section 4(b). 

17 (2) FINAL REPORT.—The final report of an en18 tity on a grant under subsection (a) shall include a 

19 description of the best practices identified by the en20 tity as a result of the grant for increasing the num21 ber of individuals who are trained, employed, and re22 tained in employment as realtime writers. 

23 (c) ANNUAL REVIEW.—The Inspector General of the 

24 Department of Commerce shall conduct an annual review 

25 of the management, efficiency, and effectiveness of the 

26 grants made under this Act. 


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1 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec3 retary of Commerce to carry out this Act $20,000,000 for 

4 each of fiscal years 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. 

5 SEC. 8. SUNSET. 

6 This Act is repealed effective the last day of the fifth 

7 fiscal year in which funds are appropriated to carry out 

8 this Act. 

Æ 


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