So far, ten states, including Hawai'i, Utah, West Virginia, New Mexico, Georgia, Louisiana, Kentucky and Michigan have enacted legislation, approved rules or taken other actions through their state board to limit or ban contracting. The Kentucky bill was signed into law by the governor on March 27, 1998. At least four other states have anti-contracting legislation or rule changes currently pending before their legislatures or state supreme courts. The public is often skeptical of politicians because it is inferred that their positions on policy are influenced by the largest contributors to their campaign. The judicial system, since its legitimacy rests upon public faith, cannot tolerate arrangements that could create the same skepticism.
Court reporters are professionals with independent codes of ethics.
As such, they are responsible to these ethics even above the person paying them and before any other duty. Prohibiting parties in interest in litigation from having a direct contractual relationship with court reporters, as officers of the court, is necessary to ensure the public's faith in the integrity and impartiality of the judicial system. Lobbying for laws that are aimed at prohibiting certain types of contractual arrangements do not violate antitrust laws. State governments are free to make any law which is not prohibited under their constitution or is not preempted by the U.S. Constitution or Federal law. The antitrust laws were designed to prohibit collaboration among businesses in order to keep prices artificially high.