Whether you are a court reporter interested in COCRA membership, news, student recruitment, or you're interested in learning more about exciting career opportunities, we hope you find the resources you're looking for. Happy navigating!
WOW - The last few weeks have been crazy! The fight to keep Electronic Recording out of the budget was a HUGE fight. Thankfully, we have our hard-working lobbyists (along with far too many people to list - and I would hate to leave out a single one of them!), who did a fantastic job of keeping ER at bay. They talked with everyone who would listen, and then some, about the downfalls of using ER as a means of keeping the record. Please read previous blogs to see what it all entailed.
WHEW - We can finally breathe a sigh of relief . . . NOT!!!
Now, more than ever, we need to prepare for the next step. We need to fortify our forces, rally the troops, and go on the offense!
What does that mean for you and me? What is our role as reporters?
COCRA needs your support for our Legislative Fund. It’s extremely important that our lobbyists keep up with where we have left off this year. Next year will be here before you know it - with a new budget that will most likely have even more cuts! Therefore, I urge each of you to contribute a minimum of $60 - obviously, the more the better - to the Legislative Fund. Think of it, that’s only a few pleas. We can’t afford not to!
Please don’t delay. Send your contributions to: California Official Court Reporters Association - Legislative Fund, One Capitol Mall, Suite 320, Sacramento, CA 95814.
Posted on July 19th, 2008 at 12:14 pm, by Gordon Aiavao
Many of you COCRA members who’ve attended our annual conferences in the past have probably had the opportunity to hear a legislative report given by Barry Broad, COCRA’s lead legislative advocate in Sacramento. And if you’ve heard Barry speak, you know that he’s deeply invested in defending the court reporting profession. You may have even picked up on what a colorful personality he is.
Yet what you may not know is that Barry is also a published author. Barry’s novel “The Eve of Destruction” gets released soon and if you’re wondering what Barry’s novel is about, you can check out this synopsis published in an interview that Barry gave to the Los Angeles Times.
As lawmakers droned, he fell into a daydream. Broad, an avid news consumer and armchair geopoliticist, began pondering the Middle East, terrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
“What if CIA secret agents could engineer a Chernobyl-like nuclear meltdown that would stymie Iran’s ambitions to build a nuclear bomb?” Broad mused. “What if Iran’s mullahs could smuggle a radioactive ‘dirty bomb’ into the Port of Los Angeles and set it off at Griffith Observatory?” And “what if both events were to occur simultaneously?”
Almost makes the battles that officials have with electronic recording pale in comparison. You can read the rest of the interview with Barry and learn more about his book by clicking here. And Barry will be having a book signing in Sacramento next month and I’ll post more info on it or update this post.
COCRA is excited to announce new training exclusively for official reporters through the California Center for Judicial Education & Research (CJER), which is the education division of the AOC.
And here’s the best part: You can receive this education on the job, during your work hours at NO cost to the reporter, and it qualifies for your continuing education requirements!
COCRA’s Lyn Yard said, “As a supervising reporter, I had attended other training programs through CJER, which were always professional, relevant and well presented, and I thought, Why is there nothing offered specifically for court reporters?So I took the idea to the COCRA board, and they unanimously agreed to initiate contact with CJER about developing reporter training and education.”
Lyn told us, “When I first contacted Maggie Cimino [CJER Education Division Manager] about the possibility of developing a court reporter education program, her response was, ‘Wonderful!But we have been unable to determine how to provide education at times when reporters could be available.’”Maggie reported that CJER had investigated this possibility during the RRTF (concluded in 2004), and had even developed some curriculum, which they shared with us.It had been determined that the only time reporters were available to participate in continuing education was in the evenings and on the weekends, and CJER is unavailable to provide services during those times.
(For your convenience, directions on how to vote through NCRA’s Direct Member Voting Process and DRA’s amendment are listed below)
Mark your calendars! On July 24th, 2008, at 10:30 a.m., NCRA will hold its annual business meeting.
Why is this important to you? Because DRA has an important amendment that will pass if enough of you vote through “Direct Member Voting.” We realize most of you may not be able to attend the business meeting in Anaheim; therefore, it is vital you follow the directions below so your vote and voice will count.
With DRA’s permission, we copied their message below. If you would like to read it directly from their site, please go to www.caldra.org.
DRA is working hard to ensure all court reporters throughout the State of California have a voice. Let’s do them the service of joining in their efforts.
Directions for Direct Member Voting:
Go to http://www.ncraonline.org/ July 15, 2008
Make sure NCRA has your current email address
You can contact them by clicking on the “sign-in” link or the “View/Edit Member Information” link in the left-hand column
If you do NOT see those two links, contact NCRA at 800-272-6262
On July 24, 2008, at 10:30 a.m., you will sign on to a secure site and watch the transcript and video feed of the meeting. You can then vote through a private link for up to 12 hours.
JULY 24, 2008 AND VOTE TO SUPPORT OUR PROPOSED BYLAWS AMENDMENT!
The Deposition Reporters Association of California will again seek an NCRA bylaws amendment in order to have the opportunity to be considered an affiliate.
Some of you may recall a proposed amendment to accomplish this in 2002 and 2003. The vote in 2003 was favorable, 135 for/95 against, just not reaching the two-thirds required for the amendment to pass.
Since that time NCRA has endeavored to treat DRA, as much as possible, as a recognized state affiliate, which is greatly appreciated. However, we still aspire to be a full-fledged partner with NCRA, able to proudly say we are an NCRA affiliate working for the benefit of the profession, able to propose resolutions to NCSA, able to vote on resolutions proposed by others, able to give voice to the hundreds of NCRA members that DRA represents.
The previous bylaws proposal was to add language to allow for more than one affiliate in states with over 3,000 NCRA members. We have decided this time to use a percentage instead of a specific number. Hence, the proposed change would read as follows:
Amend Article XVI, Section 3(c) to read:
“Only one affiliated unit [shall] may be recognized from any one state, with the exception of states wherein the number of NCRA members exceeds 10 percent of NCRA membership.”
The change from “shall” to “may” is to ensure that potential affiliate status is not automatic, giving the NCRA board discretion to decide whether it is appropriate.
DRA appreciates that multiple state associations would not be sustainable in most other states. However, in California they do exist and are large enough to support full-time paid lobbyists and executive directors.
This amendment is not about seeking to replace the current California NCRA affiliate (CCRA). Rather, we are seeking inclusion for our NCRA members who have chosen DRA to represent them in their state and who wish that representation to be extended to the national arena. There is no avenue to do so without a bylaws amendment.
NCRA is known as an association of members, not states. We believe that denying DRA the opportunity to affiliate with NCRA and to have a full voice at NCSA is in conflict with this premise and disenfranchises many members based solely on a geographic determination. In terms of NCRA membership, DRA ranks among the top ten associations in the country.
DRA hopes that NCRA and its affiliate state leaders want to hear about its accomplishments and programs, including several legislative successes. We hope they want to hear, as well, a perspective that sometimes differs from that of the California NCRA affiliate.
DRA exists, has thrived and grown for over ten years, and is “home” to hundreds of NCRA members. Our goal is inclusion, participation and recognition.
Please join us in Anaheim on July 24th at the NCRA annual business meeting, in conjunction with the convention, when this amendment will be discussed and voted on! GIVE IT YOUR VOTE OF SUPPORT!
If you can’t make it in person and wish to vote on line, here is what you will need to do:
Join NCRA if you haven’t already!
Verify NCRA has a current email address for you. You can do this by going to www.NCRAonline.org. Look for the “View/Edit Member Information” comment in the left-hand column or call 800-272-6272.
In order to vote via the Web at the Anaheim business meeting, members will be able to sign on to the secure web site, review the transcript and video feed for the meeting, and vote through a private, secure link during the 12-hour voting period. Results will be verified by a third party.
The NCRA link is not up yet but will be clearly visible on NCRA’s site,
As you may or may not be aware, our official reporting positions in Probate, Family Law, Mental Health, and Civil - Law & Motion courtrooms were slated for consideration of electronic recording expansion through the legislature.
The Assembly Budget Subcommittee Number 4 understood from early on that California Shorthand Reporters [CSRs] are a vital, valuable, and cost-effective means of providing a certified, verbatim record. They voted to against expansion of ER into other California courtrooms.
Thanks to our state leaders’ hard work, the Senate Budget Subcommittee Number 4 now realizes how valuable we are as well! They had originally recommended expanding electronic recording, but today the Legislative Joint Conference Committee disagreed and did not include Electronic Recording in California’s budget trailer bill.
You, our members, truly cannot understand how close all official reporters in California came to losing our ability to continue to provide access to justice in the above-mentioned courtrooms.
Celebrate today!
Tomorrow, be prepared for the next ER attack. ER will ALWAYS be a threat to our professional community and our fellow Californians who deserve access toan accurate, verbatim record.
A person’s life can change based on what is said in court or in a deposition. Because we are certified by the State of California -Department of Consumer Affairs, and we continue to educate ourselves, parties to a case are confident they are getting the best, most cost-effective method of the record.
Our association has and continues to compile data proving ER costs millions of dollars to parties and the states in which ER is utilized; retrials, dismissals, civil penalties, and other mishaps all cost citizens both emotionally, financially, and physically.
Thanks to all of the great support from the assembly members and senators who listened, learned, and made a decision based on fact; ER is simply not a cost-effective method to producing an accurate record.
COCRA is sending thank-you letters to all members of both committees. We urge you, our members, to do the same. Their names and addresses are listed below.
And remember their efforts in future elections. They supported us based on facts. We want them to remember those facts and be in their positions in the legislature when this issue is raised in the future.
COCRA sends a huge “official” thank you to SEIU, AFSCME, IFPTE, DRA, and CCRA! Our unions and fellow associations were there alongside COCRAevery step of the incredibly grueling stairway to succeeding in defeating ER…once again.
Assembly Budget Subcommittee Number 4 Juan Arambula - Chair Dem-31 Hugh Burns State Building
2550 Mariposa Mall
Suite 5031
Fresno, CA 93721
(559) 445 - 5532
(559) 445 - 6006 fax
Paul Cook Rep-65 34932 Yucaipa Blvd
Yucaipa, CA 92399
Ph: (909) 790-4196
Fax: (909) 790-0479
Chuck DeVore Rep-70 3 Park Plaza Suite 275
Irvine, CA 92614
Ph: 949-863-7070
Fax: 949-863-9337
Mary Hayashi Dem-18 Chief of Staff: Mr. Christopher Parman 22320 Foothill Boulevard, Suite 540 Hayward, CA 94541
Tel: (510) 583-8818
Fax: (510) 583-8800
Gene Mullin Dem-19 * 1528 South El Camino Real
Suite 302
San Mateo, CA 94402
(650) 349-1900
(650) 341-4676 Fax
*Assemblymember Mullin has termed out.But a letter of support for future efforts would be nice.
Sandré R. Swanson Dem-16 1515 Clay Street
Suite 2204
Oakland, CA 94612
Tel: (510) 286-1670
Fax: (510) 286-1888
John Laird - Dem. Alternate Dem-27 701 Ocean Street, 318-B
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
Tel: (831) 425-1503
Fax: (831) 425-2570
Roger Niello - Dem. Alternate Rep-5 4811 Chippendale Drive Suite 501
Sacramento, CA 95841
Ph: (916) 349-1995
Fax: (916) 349-1999
Senate Budget Subcommittee Number 4
Michael Machado – Dem Senate District 5 1020 N Street, Suite 506 Sacramento, CA 95814 Ph: (916) 323-4306
Christine Kehoe – Dem Senate District 39 2445 Fifth Ave., Suite 200
San Diego, CA 92101
Ph: (619) 645-3133
Fax:(619) 645-3144
Dick Ackerman – Rep Senate District 33 17821 E. 17th St., Ste 180
Tustin, California 92780 Ph:(714) 573-1853 Fax:(714) 573-1859
Help is needed to ensure funding for captioning program!
Cerritos College in Norwalk, California needs our support in obtaining Congressional funding to create a captioning program. A huge portion of the captioning grants involve recruitment and advertising for the court reporting and captioning professions. The rest relates to equipment, software, resource material, training and curriculum.
Cerritos College is the only California school applying for earmarks this year. No California school has yet received Federal funding for this purpose, though several schools across the nation already have.
Part of the NCRA grassroots process is to get court reporters, captioners and consumers to write letters of support to our state senators and our local representatives. Please go to Cerrritos College’s websiteto help in this important process.
It was another big day in Sacramento. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata of District 9 agreed to have staff meet with our best and brightest about ER Expansion and other concerns having to do with our court reporting profession.
Our union representatives - Michelle Castro with SEIU; Willie Pelote and Michael Bolden with AFSCME; and Libby Sanchez with IFPTE - all had an opportunity to speak on our behalf. Perata’s staff was very open to all of the facts pointed out about the problems with electronic recording [ER].
After discussing the implications of ER expansion and the accessibility of transcripts when ER is being used in court, Senator Perata’s staff became very interested in knowing how that would affect citizens trying to obtain an ER recording.
This can do nothing but help our cause. When purchasing a cd or recording, the entire day’s worth of proceedings is on each recording purchased. Imagine the privacy issues! Social security numbers, names, phone numbes, addresses, and other personal information for anyone wishing to purchase a cd? Yes, that happens when ER is being used.
We also provided examples of transcripts from typists in ER transcribing firms to further prove that these inferior records of proceedings are not worth the paper they are typed on.
It doesn’t matter that the recording equipment is modern, as some proponents of ER claim, because the machine cannot tell a person to speak up, repeat what was said, slow down, not talk over another, or to stop mumbling.
As we have shown, these few problems create disasters when a typist tries to make a record…that is, if there is a record. We also have many examples of machine malfunction where the words never make it into any kind of record. Talk about costly!
It’s not over, by any means. But the fact that the Conference Committee and Senator Perata’s staff and many others are actively seeking out information about our profession and are open to hearing the truth about the costs of ER, means the legislature is not going to make a decision based on emotion. For that, we have to be truly grateful.
It is a very emotional time in Sacramento. Cuts are occurring everywhere. It is important we realize how lucky and smart we are to be the best and most cost-effective way to provide transcripts while continuing to educate ourselves and expand our skill level.
We will continue to update you regularly…bookmark COCRA to keep informed.
Here’s another update on what is happening with your future.
Judicial Council [JC] produced “job protection” language designed to put official court reporters’ minds at ease over the issue of expanding electronic recording [ER] in California courts. It is copied below and states the following:
(The areas in bold and italicized - (b) (d) and (f) - are the proposed amendments to 69957)
69957. (a) Whenever an official reporter or an official reporter pro tempore is unavailable to report an action or proceeding in a court, subject to the availability of approved equipment and equipment monitors, the court may order that, in a limited civil case, or a misdemeanor or infraction case, the action or proceeding be electronically recorded, including all the testimony, the objections made, the ruling of the court, the exceptions taken, all arraignments, pleas, and sentences of defendants in criminal cases, the arguments of the attorneys to the jury, and all statements and remarks made and oral instructions given by the judge. (b) Subject to the availability of approved equipment, the court may also order that actions or proceedings in family law, probate, mental health, and civil law and motion be electronically recorded.
(c) A transcript derived from an electronic recording made pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) may be utilized whenever a transcript of court proceedings is required. (d) The court may also use electronic recording equipment in all case types for internal court purposes.
(e) The electronic recording device and appurtenant equipment shall be of a type approved by the Judicial Council for courtroom use and shall only be purchased for use as provided by this section. A court shall not expend funds for electronic recording technology or equipment to make an unofficial record of an action or proceeding or to use that technology or equipment to make the official record of an action or proceeding in circumstances not authorized by this section. (f) The adoption of subdivision (b) shall not result in the loss of employment for any court employee performing court reporting services.
Hmmmm, what’s wrong with this language? Sounds too much like the so-called Court Reporter Protection Act promulgated after the ER battle in 2003, which compromised reporter jobs.
They want to take away our jobs through attrition, which wouldn’t save California any money or help with the budget deficit in any way.
Yes, folks, that’s what it looks like to your state association leaders, union representatives, and anyone else reading this proposal. There isn’t ANY language about hiring certified shorthand reporters to fill any vacancies.
We have every confidence that the Senate leadership will adopt the Assembly leadership’s recommendation to keep current law and not expand ER in California courtrooms; it won’t help the budget, so it doesn’t make sense to adopt this language.
By the way, this language introduced by the JC has NOTHING to do with the budget crisis, and parts of it were introduced in the past. Your state associations and unions are ever vigilant in watching for issues exactly like this one.
Thanks again to our SEIU, AFSCME and IFPTE reps for all your hard work in Sacramento and for keeping us up to date.
Union leadership will be at the conference today. We, official court reporters, and our friends are ready to make calls and send letters or faxes at your direction.
Stay tuned, stay watchful, and stand ready for action!
Yesterday, June 12th, 2008, our COCRA lobbyists gave the Conference Committee in Sacramento the letter copied below. Please take a moment to look it over. We know this letter, all the phone calls made to Senators Ducheny and Perata by deposition and official reporters, along with the visits COCRA board members are making today in Sacramento are helping us defeat this proposal to expand ER.
The troops have rallied, and it makes us proud…yeah, I know, we’ve already said that. But it’s true!
Being a court reporter is a profession to be very proud of. Remember all your days in school (up to four years) working on your speed and accuracy. Think of all the money you have spent on equipment, software, and supplies. Think about all the seminars you attend to learn more and improve your skills. Think of all the hours spent on nights and weekends working to produce an accurate and timely record that is cheaper to produce than using an uncertified, untrained typist who is going to charge more than we charge.
Enjoy the letter. And thank you, Libby, Barry, and Shane, for the time you have spent for our cause and for this fabulous letter!
……………………………………………………
To:All Members of the Legislative Budget Conference Committee
The above labor unions representing court employees in San Francisco, Riverside and San Diego and the California Official Court Reporters Association, representing court reporters throughout the state urge the conference committee to reject the senate actions taken by Senate Budget Sub Committee # 4 related to the Judicial Branch (0250) and urge the conference committee instead to adopt the actions taken by Assembly Budget Sub Committee # 4.
Court reporters provide an invaluable service, a service which can not be duplicated by electronic recording. We are very concerned about Senate Subcommittee # 4 recommendation to expand Electronic Recording into the areas of family court, probate court, mental health court and in laws and motions proceedings. Not only will adoption of this recommendation not save money, instead it will result in substantial revenue losses due to the fact that court reporter user fees which are currently required to be collected will be lost.
We are equally concerned about the Senate proposals to cut the Judiciary budget which seem to hit the trial courts the hardest.Such cuts will dramatically impact the delivery services to consumers, bog down the judicial system and delay justice to Californians.
For the above reasons, we urge the Conference Committee to reject the Senate actions and adopt the Assembly actions related to the Judicial Branch (0250).
This is an informal post to let everyone know that the Conference Committee (whose members still remain unnamed) is going to meet for the first time this Thursday, June 12, 2008.
Why is that important to us, official court reporters? Well, as you can see from the previous post Gordon posted on our website, the Senate Subcommittee Number 4 recommended the expansion of ER.
Because the Assembly Subcommittee Number 4 did not recommend the same, the unnamed Conference Committee members are going to have to weigh the issue and decide whether it now wants to move forward with expanding ER to “save costs.”
While we are very happy ER didn’t make it into the May revise, we are concerned the ER issue is not over yet. We will continue to have to prove there is NO cost savings.
Your membership dollars and legislative contributions are the ONLY reason our volunteers are able to continue to work hard educating the masses.
PLEASE renew your membership if you haven’t done so already! It is VITAL that all officials support their association at this critical time.
I know, I know…you are thinking, “Critical? Isn’t it always critical and isn’t ER always defeated? I’m just gonna sit back and let my fellow court reporters deal with it.”
Well, you would be right. ER is always defeated. The reason it is always defeated is because you have very strong associations in California who continue to monitor and defeat ER when it rears its ugly head.
If you are a member, THANK YOU for your support. And be sure to pat yourself on the back for taking responsibility for your profession.
If you aren’t a member or have not renewed, now is the time to do so. We are in the worst budget crisis in over 30 years in California. There is a large portion of the population who believe ER is the better way to go.
Help us help you! Submit an application or renew today!
