URGENT ACTION NEEDED! SB 662 Update--Electronic Recording Threat
OCEA member,
This is an urgent request for action! Senate Bill 662, which would expand electronic recording in civil hearings, passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday. This is not the outcome OCEA has fought for, but this is only the first committee this bill must survive. OCEA, our Sacramento political consultants, and our Court Reporter members will continue to aggressively advocate to defeat this misguided attempt to expand inferior recording of Court proceedings.
The bill's next hearing is scheduled before the Senate Standing Committee on Business, Professions, and Economic Development tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. Monday, April 24, 2023.
Please review the email below from the California Court Reporters Association for a template and call, text or email (or all three) the committee members prior to Monday's hearing.
Thank you for your immediate action.
Charles Barfield
OCEA General Manager
ELECTRONIC RECORDING THREAT IS HAPPENING NOW
WE MUST STOP SB 662!
URGENT ACTION NEEDED
NOW THROUGH MONDAY, APRIL 24 AT 9:30 A.M.
SB 662 is a bill introduced by Senator Rubio, currently moving through the State Legislature. This bill would expand the use of electronic recordings (ER) to any civil court proceeding, including family law, probate, and mental health. SB 662 will next be heard by the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee on Monday, April 24. It’s important to ensure these committee members hear the voice of workers and how this affects court users and how this affects you.
Alert everyone you know – including friends, family members, attorneys, legal professionals, as well as court reporters – to call or send in a letter NOW!
SAMPLE EMAIL—send NOW to info@cal-ccra.org and josh@hernandezstrategy.com
To: Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee, 1021 O Street, Room 2100, Sacramento, California
Subject: OPPOSE SB 662 (Rubio)
Dear Senator Richard D. Roth (Chair) and Committee Members,
My name is _____ and I’m a court reporter in ______ trial court. I am writing to ask you to oppose SB 662 (Rubio) when it is before you in the Senate Business, Professions, and Economic Development Committee on April 24.
SB 662 would expand the use of electronic recordings for any civil proceeding, including family law, probate, and mental health hearings – some of the state’s most vulnerable court users. The bill would also authorize the issuance of provisional court reporter licenses to individuals who meet certain requirements.
These provisions are contradictory. Senator Rubio says she wants to license more reporters, but her bill actually disincentives the hiring of reporters. My experience as a reporter for ____ years has shown me if courts are not statutorily mandated to hire more court reporters, they will not. SB 662 is a direct attack on court reporters and the work we do 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. Additionally, electronic recordings create a two-tiered system 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.
The bottom line is that electronic recording will take good paying jobs away from small business owners in California in a female-dominated profession; it does not provide a verbatim transcript; it diminishes the integrity of our judicial system; it creates a two-tier system; and reduces access to justice and ultimately costs litigants and taxpayers more money.
Finally, the licensing provisions in the bill will diminish the standard of reporting by allowing candidates who are unqualified to be licensed. This, along with the electronic recording expansion, will undermine justice by substantially increasing the likelihood of inaccurate transcripts. This is highly damaging for court users statewide and the public in general.
I respectfully ask you to vote no on this harmful bill. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[your name will go here]
[your email address will go here]
[your work or home city will go here]
SAMPLE PHONE CALL – Leave messages to all the below Senators starting NOW, OVER THE WEEKEND, or MONDAY MORNING APRIL 24, 2023
Subject: OPPOSE SB 662 (Rubio)
Hi, my name is ___________.
May I speak to [Senator Name] or a staff member who can relay a message on SB 662?
I am a court reporter in __________ and I serve your constituents.
I’m asking that the Senator oppose SB 662 (Rubio) when it is before the Senator on Monday in the Senate BP&E Committee. SB 662 grants provisional court reporter licenses, which allows unqualified students to become court reporters, and expands the use of electronic recordings, which would take away good-paying jobs by replacing court reporters with substandard technology that cannot capture a verbatim record.
For these reasons, as a court worker, I am strongly urging the Senator to OPPOSE SB 662.
Thank you for your time. Have a nice day.
Senator Richard D. Roth (Chair)
(916) 651-4031
Senator Janet Nguyen (Vice Chair)
(916) 651-4036
Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil
(916) 651-4004
Senator Bob Archuleta
(916) 651-4030
Senator Angelique V. Ashby
(916) 651-4008
Josh Becker
(916) 651-4013
Bill Dodd
(916) 651-4003
Susan Talamantes Eggman
(916) 651-4005
Steven M. Glazer
(916) 651-4007
Roger W. Niello
(916) 651-4006
Lola Smallwood-Cuevas
(916) 651-4028
Aisha Wahab
(916) 651-4410
Scott Wilk
(916) 651-4021
Publication Date: April 23, 2023
