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. BALD-
WIN, Mr. LYNCH, Mrs. CAPITO, Mr. ADERHOLT, Mrs. BIGGERT, and Mrs. 
MCCARTHY of New York) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Training for Realtime 
Writers Act of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) As directed by Congress in section 723 of 
the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 613), 
as added by section 305 of the Telecommunications 
Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–104; 110 Stat. 126), 
the Federal Communications Commission adopted 
rules requiring closed captioning of most television 
programming, which gradually require new video 
programming to be fully captioned beginning in 
2006. 
(2) More than 28,000,000 Americans, or 8 per-
cent of the population, are considered deaf or hard 
of hearing and many require captioning services to 
participate in mainstream activities. 
(3) More than 24,000 children are born in the 
United States each year with some form of hearing 
loss. 
(4) According to the United States Department 
of Health and Human Services and a study done by 
the National Council on Aging—
(A) 25 percent of Americans over 65 years 
old are hearing impaired; 
(B) 33 percent of Americans over 70 years 
old are hearing impaired; and 
(C) 41 percent of Americans over 75 years 
old are hearing impaired.
(5) The National Council on Aging study also 
found that depression in older adults may be directly 
related to hearing loss and disconnection with the 
spoken word. 
(6) Empirical research demonstrates that cap-
tions improve the performance of those individuals 
learning to read English and, according to numerous 
Federal agencies’ statistics, could benefit—
(A) 3.7 million remedial readers; 
(B) 12 million young children learning to 
read; 
(C) 27 million illiterate adults; and 
(D) 30 million people for whom English is 
a second language. 
(7) Over the past 5 years, student enrollment in 
programs that train court reporters to become 
realtime writers has decreased significantly, causing 
such programs to close on many campuses. 
SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF GRANT PROGRAM TO PRO-
MOTE TRAINING AND JOB PLACEMENT OF 
REALTIME WRITERS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education shall 
make competitive grants to eligible entities under sub-
section (b) to promote training and placement of individ-
uals, including individuals who have completed a court re-
porting training program, as realtime writers in order to 
meet the requirements for closed captioning of video pro-
gramming set forth in section 723 of the Communications 
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 613) and the rules prescribed 
thereunder. 
(b) ELIGIBLE ENTITIES.—For purposes of this act, 
an eligible entity is a court reporting or realtime writing 
training program that—
(1) can document and demonstrate to the Sec-
retary of Education that it meets minimum stand-
ards of educational and financial accountability, with 
a curriculum capable of training realtime writers, 
qualified to provide captioning services; 
(2) is accredited by an accrediting agency rec-
ognized by the Department of Education; and 
(3) participates in student aid programs under 
title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 
U.S.C. 1070 et seq.) 
(c) PRIORITY IN GRANTS.—In determining whether 
to award grants under this section, the Secretary of Edu-
cation shall give priority to eligible entities that—
(1) demonstrate the greatest ability to increase 
their capacity to train realtime writers; 
(2) demonstrate the most promising collabora-
tion with local educational institutions, businesses,
labor organizations, or other community groups hav-
ing the potential to train or provide job placement 
assistance to realtime writers; and 
(3) propose the most promising and innovative 
approaches for initiating or expanding training or 
job placement assistance efforts for realtime writers. 
(d) DURATION OF GRANT.—A grant under this sec-
tion shall be for a period of 2 years. 
(e) MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF GRANT.—The amount of 
a grant provided under subsection (a) to an entity eligible 
may not exceed $1,500,000 for the 2-year period of the 
grant. 
SEC. 4. APPLICATION. 
To receive a grant under section 3, an eligible entity 
shall submit an application to the Secretary of Education 
at such time and in such manner as the Secretary shall 
require. The application shall include—
(1) a description of the training and assistance 
to be funded using the grant amount, including how 
such training and assistance will increase the num-
ber of realtime writers; 
(2) a description of performance measures to be 
utilized to evaluate the progress of individuals re-
ceiving such training and assistance in matters relat-
ing to enrollment, completion of training, and job 
placement and retention; 
(3) a description of the manner in which the eli-
gible entity will ensure that recipients of scholar-
ships, if any, funded by the grant will be employed 
and retained as realtime writers; 
(4) a description of the manner in which the eli-
gible entity intends to continue providing the train-
ing and assistance to be funded by the grant after 
the end of the grant period, including any partner-
ships or arrangements established for that purpose; 
(5) a description of how the eligible entity will 
work with local workforce investment boards to en-
sure that training and assistance to be funded with 
the grant will further local workforce goals, includ-
ing the creation of educational opportunities for in-
dividuals who are from economically disadvantaged 
backgrounds or are displaced workers; and 
(6) such other information as the Secretary 
may require. 
SEC. 5. USE OF FUNDS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—An eligible entity receiving a 
grant under section 3 shall use the grant amount for pur-
poses relating to the recruitment, training, assistance, and 
job placement of individuals (including individuals who
have completed a court reporting training program) as 
realtime writers, including—
(1) recruitment activites; 
(2) subject to subsection (b), the provision of 
scholarships to individuals for training in realtime 
writing; 
(3) distance learning; 
(4) design and development of curriculum to 
more effectively train realtime writing skills and 
education in the knowledge bases necessary for the 
delivery of high quality closed captioning services; 
(5) assistance in job placement for upcoming 
and recent graduates with all types of captioning 
employers; 
(6) encouragement of individuals with disabil-
ities to pursue a career in realtime writing; and 
(7) the employment and payment of personnel 
for such purposes. 
(b) SCHOLARSHIPS.—
(1) AMOUNT.—The amount of a scholarship 
under subsection (a)(2) shall be based on the 
amount of need of the recipient of the scholarship 
for financial assistance, as determined in accordance 
with part F of title IV of the Higher Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1087kk).
(2) AGREEMENT.—Each recipient of a scholar-
ship under subsection (a)(2) shall enter into an 
agreement with the Secretary of Education to pro-
vide realtime writing services for a period of time (as 
determined by the Secretary) that is appropriate for 
the amount of the scholarship received. 
(3) COURSEWORK
AND
EMPLOYMENT.—The 
Secretary 
shall 
establish 
requirements 
for 
coursework and employment for recipients of schol-
arships under subsection (a)(2), including require-
ments for repayment of scholarship amounts in the 
event of failure to meet such requirements for 
coursework and employment. Requirements for re-
payment of scholarship amounts shall take into ac-
count the effect of economic conditions on the capac-
ity of scholarship recipients to find work as realtime 
writers. 
(c) ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS.—The recipient of a 
grant under section 3 may not use more than 5 percent 
of the grant amount to pay administrative costs associated 
with activities funded by the grant. 
(d) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—Grants amounts 
under this Act shall supplement and not supplant other 
Federal or non-Federal funds of the grant recipient for
purposes of promoting the training and placement of indi-
viduals as realtime writers. 
SEC. 6. REPORTS. 
Each eligible entity receiving a grant under section 
3 shall submit to the Secretary of Education, at the end 
of each year of the grant period, a report which shall in-
clude—
(1) a description of the use of grant amounts 
by the entity during such year; 
(2) an assessment, utilizing the performance 
measures submitted by the entity in the application 
for the grant under section 4(b), of the effectiveness 
of activities carried out using such funds in increas-
ing the number of realtime writers; and 
(3) a description of the best practices identified 
by the entity as a result of the grant for increasing 
the number of individuals who are trained, em-
ployed, and retained in employment as realtime writ-
ers. 
SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 
There is authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
this Act—
(1) $20,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2004, 
2005, and 2006; and
(2) such sums as may be necessary for fiscal 
year 2007.
Æ