ACTION ALERT: Support Court Workers Jobs!
Dear OCEA member,
On Monday, April 17, the Senate Judiciary Committee will consider Senate Bill 662. SB 662 is a direct attack on court reporters and the work to create a verbatim transcript for litigants.
As you know, the accuracy of the court record is a critical underpinning of our justice system. Electronic recording has long been proven to be a substandard product and is fraught with missed testimony and inaudibles. SB 662 would expand the use of electronic recordings for all civil proceeding, including family law. The bill would also authorize the issuance of provisional court reporter licenses to individuals who meet certain requirements. These provisions are contradictory.
We appreciate that Senator Rubio wants to license more court reporters, but her bill will disincentivize the hiring of reporters and be used as an excuse by individual courts to not hire Official Court Reporters. Our experience for many years has shown that if courts are not forced to hire more Official Court Reporters, they will not take the initiative to do so.
Additionally, electronic recordings create a two-tiered system of justice that is unfair to indigent litigants and those who are not wealthy enough to afford a private reporter or pay for a private transcriber to convert a recording into a transcript. It is wrong to provide a litigant with any less than a verbatim transcript. SB 662 would lower the standard of justice for everyone except the wealthy.
Court Reporters have been on the forefront fighting to ensure all litigants will have access to accurate and complete transcripts. Court reporters fund the Transcript Reimbursement Fund through our licensing fees. This fund helps indigent litigants have access to certified transcripts. Without court reporters this fund will disappear.
Court Reporting is a female-dominated profession. We are shocked that in this day and age anyone would want to take away an incredible career from hard-working women making a decent living. Instead, the Legislature should be finding ways to promote the stenographic profession and allow more to be employed in this much-need area of the legal field. Court reporters are perfectionists by nature, meticulous with their work, and ensure ALL litigants get treated equally and have access to accurate and certified transcripts. SB 662 would inexcusably change what our justice system demands.
We have worked diligently with the Legislature on investments to bring more court reporters into the profession. We thank the Legislature, particularly Senator Durazo, for her recent actions to provide $30 million to recruit and retain court reporters and to authorize the licensure of voice writers. But these investments need time to work. The Judicial Council just allocated this money to courts in September of 2022 and courts have only begun to use this money in recent months. The voice writing licensing law also just took effect in September of 2022. Before abandoning our profession and the important work we do, please give this important investment time to work.
The bottom line is that electronic recording will take good paying jobs away from a female-dominated profession. It does not provide a verbatim transcript, it diminishes the integrity of our judicial system, it creates a two-tiered system of justice, reduces access to justice, and ultimately costs litigants and taxpayers more money.
Please take a moment to send an email or a make a quick phone call to our Orange County Senators asking them to vote NO on SB 662 before the hearing on April 17.
District 34 Senator Thomas Umberg
916-651-4034
senator.umberg@senate.ca.gov
District 37 Senator Dave Min
916-651-4037
senator.min@senate.ca.gov
In Solidarity,
OCEA
Publication Date: April 14, 2023
