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Now it is your time to respond to your TCRA leadership. Enclosed in this issue is a form for you to fill out and return to TCRA Headquarters. We will not be using any previously received forms; only ones dated 2002/2003. In January of 2000, in anticipation of the 77th Legislature, TCRA staff began to gather contracting surveys from all Texas Certified Shorthand Reporters, regardless of TCRA membership. Over the course of the year, staff obtained a survey from almost every TCRA member, in addition to hundreds of surveys from non-members. The end result – 98% of Texas CSR respondents agreed that legislation should be passed to prohibit or limit contracting in Texas. When the 77th Legislature convened, the members were consumed with the impending redistricting issue. None of the members wanted to sponsor any legislation that might cause controversy, and contracting in the court reporting profession is controversial. TCRA’s attention turned to passing legislation regarding firm ownership. This legislation was successfully passed and went into effect on September 1, 2001. Now, all court reporting firms must register with the Court Reporters Certification Board and are held accountable to the same rules and statutes as Certified Shorthand Reporters. Grievances may now be filed against firms, not just the individual court reporter. The legislation is for all court reporting firms owned by Texas CSRs and firms owned by non-CSRs. What is the definition of a firm? The Court Reporters Certification Board has defined “a firm” as: “A firm shall be defined as any person, or entity that employs Certified Shorthand Reporters and/or engages independent contractors to provide court or shorthand reporting services. A firm shall be required to register any affiliate office under a separate registration number and pay a registration renewal fee.” If you meet the definition above, you should be registered with the Board. If you have not registered, please contact the Court Reporters Certification Board, in writing, and request your firm registration forms immediately. A legislative update was given at the 2001 Annual Convention in Fort Worth, with a copy of the new legislation given to each registrant. TCRA also notified all members in July 2001 in the “Just For The Record” newsletter. Just as with your CSR, it is the individual’s or firm’s responsibility to notify the Board of your current address and to respond to filing the registration paperwork. The Board may enforce this by seeking an injunction or by filing a complaint, and this action for an injunction is in addition to any other action, proceeding, or remedy authorized by law. Your action is now warranted to fill out and return the enclosed contracting survey so that your TCRA leaders will know your thoughts on the contracting issue. Although the 78th Legislature will not begin until January 2003 – time is short and we need your completed survey so that staff will have time to perform the task of compiling the results. Please take a moment now, fill out the survey by clicking here to print it and return it to us today! (Back to Table of Contents) |