Access to judicial and nonjudicial proceedings: individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing: operators of computer-aided transcription systems.

Existing law requires that a participant in any civil or criminal proceeding, court-ordered or court-provided alternative dispute resolution, or administrative hearing of a public agency, who is hearing impaired be provided with a functioning assistive listening system or a computer-aided transcription system, upon his or her request. Existing law requires, if a computer-aided transcription system is requested, sufficient display terminals be provided to allow the hearing impaired individual to read the real-time transcript of the proceeding without difficulty. Existing law requires the Judicial Council to perform various tasks related to assistive listening systems and computer-aided transcription systems, including the development and maintenance of a system to record utilization by the courts of these systems. This bill would require an individual requiring the services of an operator of a computer-aided transcription system to give advance notice of this need, as specified, and would require the operator to provide the speech-to-text equipment to be used, unless otherwise provided by the court. The bill would require a sign to be posted in a prominent place indicating the availability, and how to request, the services of an operator. The bill would also require the Judicial Council to develop and approve official forms for notice of the availability of the services of an operator and to develop and maintain a system to record utilization by the courts of the services of certified operators of computer-aided transcription systems, the services of sign language interpreters, and the services of otherwise uncertified operators, interpreters, or captioners. The bill would also change references to "hearing impaired" to "deaf or hard of hearing." Existing law authorizes a court reporter to be present in the jury deliberating room during jury deliberation if the services of the court reporter for the purpose of operating a computer-aided transcription system are required for a juror who is hearing impaired. This bill would instead authorize an operator of a computer-aided transcription system to be present for that purpose. Existing law requires the Court Reporters Board of California to license and regulate the practice of shorthand reporting, defined to generally mean, among other things, the making of a verbatim record of any oral court proceeding. This bill, on or before January 1, 2020, would authorize the board to identify a certification process for operators of computer-aided transcription systems that is conducted by a state or national association. The bill, on or before January 1, 2022, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require the board to adopt standards for certifying operators of computer-aided transcription systems and would authorize the board to satisfy this requirement by approving a state or national association to certify operators of computer-aided transcription systems. The bill, on or before January 1, 2026, would also require the board to report to the Legislature the number of operators of computer-aided transcription systems that, between January 1, 2022, and July 1, 2025, have successfully been certified pursuant to the standards adopted by the board.