(1) Existing law establishes the Court Reporters Board of California for the licensure and regulation of shorthand reporters. Existing law generally requires an applicant for a license to, among other requirements, pass an examination consisting of 3 parts, one of which is labeled Dictation/Transcription (Machine/Skill) . Under existing law, successful completion of the Certified Verbatim Reporter (CVR) or Certified Verbatim Reporter-Stenotype (CVR-S) certification administered through the National Verbatim Reporters Association satisfies the requirement to pass the Dictation/Transcription portion of the examination.

This bill would also allow successful completion of the Registered Professional Reporter (RPR) certification administered through the National Court Reporters Association to satisfy the requirement to pass the Dictation/Transcription portion of the examination.

(2) Existing law authorizes the superior court of 13 specified counties to conduct pilot projects, beginning on July 1, 2025, to study the potential use of remote court reporting to make the verbatim record of certain court proceedings under specified requirements. Existing law requires all pilot projects to terminate no later than July 1, 2026, and further requires the Judicial Council to prepare a report for the Legislature with the results from each participating superior court. Existing law repeals these provisions on June 1, 2027.

This bill would extend the duration of the pilot program and would require all pilot projects to terminate no later than July 1, 2028, and would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.