I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 970

To provide competitive grants for training court reporters and realtime writers 

to meet requirements for closed captioning under the Telecommunications 

Act of 1996, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 27, 2003

Mr. KIND (for himself, Mr. ISAKSON, Mr. HOLT, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, 

Mr. BOSWELL, Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. FILNER, Mrs. MALONEY, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mrs. BIGGERT, and Mrs. 

MCCARTHY of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL

To provide competitive grants for training court reporters 

and realtime writers to meet requirements for closed 

captioning 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 2003’’. 

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 beginning in 

9 2006. 

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 United States Department 

18 of Health and Human Services and a study done by 

19 the National 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 those individuals 

7 learning to read English and, according to numerous 

8 Federal agencies’ statistics, could benefit—

9 (A) 3.7 million remedial readers; 

10 (B) 12 million young children learning to 

11 read; 

12 (C) 27 million illiterate adults; and 

13 (D) 30 million people for whom English is 

14 a second language. 

15 (7) Over the past 5 years, student enrollment in 

16 programs that train court reporters to become 

17 realtime writers has decreased significantly, causing 

18 such programs to close on many campuses. 

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

21 REALTIME WRITERS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education shall 

23 make competitive grants to eligible entities under sub24 section (b) to promote training and placement of individ25 uals, including individuals who have completed a court re-
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1 porting training program, as realtime writers in order to 

2 meet the requirements for closed captioning of video pro3 gramming set forth in section 723 of the Communications 

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

5 thereunder. 

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

7 an eligible entity is a court reporting or realtime writing 

8 training program that—

9 (1) can document and demonstrate to the Sec10 retary of Education that it meets minimum stand11 ards of educational and financial accountability, with 

12 a curriculum capable of training realtime writers, 

13 qualified to provide captioning services; 

14 (2) is accredited by an accrediting agency rec15 ognized by the Department of Education; and 

16 (3) participates in student aid programs under 

17 title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

18 U.S.C. 1070 et seq.) 

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

20 to award grants under this section, the Secretary of Edu21 cation shall give priority to eligible entities that—

22 (1) demonstrate the greatest ability to increase 

23 their capacity to train realtime writers; 

24 (2) demonstrate the most promising collabora25 tion with local educational institutions, businesses, 
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1 labor organizations, or other community groups hav2 ing the potential to train or provide job placement 

3 assistance to realtime writers; and 

4 (3) propose the most promising and innovative 

5 approaches for initiating or expanding training or 

6 job placement assistance efforts for realtime writers. 

7 (d) DURATION OF GRANT.—A grant under this sec8 tion shall be for a period of 2 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 2-year period of the 

12 grant. 

13 SEC. 4. APPLICATION. 

14 To receive a grant under section 3, an eligible entity 

15 shall submit an application to the Secretary of Education 

16 at such time and in such manner as the Secretary shall 

17 require. The application shall include—

18 (1) a description of the training and assistance 

19 to be funded using the grant amount, including how 

20 such training and assistance will increase the num21 ber of realtime writers; 

22 (2) a description of performance measures to be 

23 utilized to evaluate the progress of individuals re24 ceiving such training and assistance in matters relat-
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1 ing to enrollment, completion of training, and job 

2 placement and retention; 

3 (3) a description of the manner in which the eli4 gible entity will ensure that recipients of scholar5 ships, if any, funded by the grant will be employed 

6 and retained as realtime writers; 

7 (4) a description of the manner in which the eli8 gible entity intends to continue providing the train9 ing and assistance to be funded by the grant after 

10 the end of the grant period, including any partner11 ships or arrangements established for that purpose; 

12 (5) a description of how the eligible entity will 

13 work with local workforce investment boards to en14 sure that training and assistance to be funded with 

15 the grant will further local workforce goals, includ16 ing the creation of educational opportunities for in17 dividuals who are from economically disadvantaged 

18 backgrounds or are displaced workers; and 

19 (6) such other information as the Secretary 

20 may require. 

21 SEC. 5. USE OF FUNDS. 

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

23 grant under section 3 shall use the grant amount for pur24 poses relating to the recruitment, training, assistance, and 

25 job placement of individuals (including individuals who 
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1 have completed a court reporting training program) as 

2 realtime writers, including—

3 (1) recruitment activites; 

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

5 scholarships to individuals for training in realtime 

6 writing; 

7 (3) distance learning; 

8 (4) design and development of curriculum to 

9 more effectively train realtime writing skills and 

10 education in the knowledge bases necessary for the 

11 delivery of high quality closed captioning services; 

12 (5) assistance in job placement for upcoming 

13 and recent graduates with all types of captioning 

14 employers; 

15 (6) encouragement of individuals with disabil16 ities to pursue a career in realtime writing; and 

17 (7) the employment and payment of personnel 

18 for such purposes. 

19 (b) SCHOLARSHIPS.—

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

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

22 amount of need of the recipient of the scholarship 

23 for financial assistance, as determined in accordance 

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

25 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087kk). 
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1 (2) AGREEMENT.—Each recipient of a scholar2 ship under subsection (a)(2) shall enter into an 

3 agreement with the Secretary of Education to pro4 vide realtime writing services for a period of time (as 

5 determined by the Secretary) that is appropriate for 

6 the amount of the scholarship received. 

7 (3) COURSEWORK AND EMPLOYMENT.—The 

8 Secretary shall establish requirements for 

9 coursework and employment for recipients of schol10 arships under subsection (a)(2), including require11 ments for repayment of scholarship amounts in the 

12 event of failure to meet such requirements for 

13 coursework and employment. Requirements for re14 payment of scholarship amounts shall take into ac15 count the effect of economic conditions on the capac16 ity of scholarship recipients to find work as realtime 

17 writers. 

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

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

20 of the grant amount to pay administrative costs associated 

21 with activities funded by the grant. 

22 (d) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Grants amounts 

23 under this Act shall supplement and not supplant other 

24 Federal or non-Federal funds of the grant recipient for 
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1 purposes of promoting the training and placement of indi2 viduals as realtime writers. 

3 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

4 Each eligible entity receiving a grant under section 

5 3 shall submit to the Secretary of Education, at the end 

6 of each year of the grant period, a report which shall in7 clude—

8 (1) a description of the use of grant amounts 

9 by the entity during such year; 

10 (2) an assessment, utilizing the performance 

11 measures submitted by the entity in the application 

12 for the grant under section 4(b), of the effectiveness 

13 of activities carried out using such funds in increas14 ing the number of realtime writers; and 

15 (3) a description of the best practices identified 

16 by the entity as a result of the grant for increasing 

17 the number of individuals who are trained, em18 ployed, and retained in employment as realtime writ19 ers. 

20 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

22 this Act—

23 (1) $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004, 

24 2005, and 2006; and 
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1 (2) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 

2 year 2007.

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