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URGENT!!! CALL TO ACTION: CALIFORNIA -- AB 788 will allow copies of transcripts!!!

Please act NOW! This is from the CCRA, if you have not already received it. Please fax a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee and urge them to vote NO. They vote TOMORROW, Tuesday, July 2, 2013!

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CCRA is taking direct action to fight against AB 788 (Wagner) and we need your help! Tomorrow, July 2nd, 2013, the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear this bill. We need to kill this bill NOW!

This bill authored by Assembly Member Wagner amends GC69954 and allows purchasers of transcripts to reproduce one or more copies or portions of the transcript. This would jeopardize the integrity of our written record. Court Reporters are the guardians of the record. As such, we must oppose this amendment.

CCRA opposes this bill. This would allow litigants to reproduce transcripts without further compensation to the reporter. Reporters have not had a transcript increase in over 23 years!

YOU MUST ACT TODAY - NOW! We need to let members of the Senate Judiciary Committee know why this bill should not pass! Please join us in this urgent fight!

Please take a few minutes today to complete and fax an opposition letter on AB 788 to each of the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee listed below, who will be voting on this bill very soon. Urge a NO vote.

Please click here for a sample fax letter. Your family, co-workers and friends can join faxing letters as well.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Deborah M. on July 1, 2013 at 19:53

Apparently this bill is already dead.

This came from Lisa Michaels:

Liz,

This bill is dead. It died last week. CCRA is wrong and it isn't even on the calendar to be heard tomorrow. We heard about it at our board meeting last Saturday.

I get CCRA's e-notes and forwarded this to our leg team. DRA is writing an e-note now to tell everyone not to panic and hopefully CCRA and our members will read it

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/asm/ab_0751-0800/ab_788_bi...

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Permalink Reply by Quyen on July 1, 2013 at 20:15

Who's Lisa Michaels? Are you SURE it's dead? The link says it's still an active bill. How could the CCRA be wrong? Shouldn't they be on top of these things? This went out early this morning from CCRA. It's a little late not to panic. If this bill is active, it is disaster for our profession. :/

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Permalink Reply by Martha R on July 1, 2013 at 22:42

Lisa Michaels past president of DRA. They are usually up on the latest.

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Permalink Reply by Kimberly E. Durso on July 2, 2013 at 9:14

Lisa Michaels is right. The Bill is NOT on calendar. Here is DRA's announcement:

Lots of positive news to report from Sacramento!

Your DRA, working in collaboration with our sister organizations COCRA and CCRA and our allies in the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), have scored some significant legislative victories in Sacramento this year.

AB 788 (Wagner) - DEAD AS OF LAST WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26! NO HEARING DATE ON JULY 2, NO ACTION NEEDED!
This bill by Republican Assemblymember Donald Wagner would have amended the law requiring lawyers to purchase transcript copies from official reporters. The bill was opposed by all reporter organizations (your DRA included) and SEIU and AFSCME. The bill DIED LAST WEEK when the Assemblymember agreed not to pursue it this year. No action is needed! The bill has not been set for hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 2. See for yourself at the link below and notice there is no announced date for any hearing:

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/13-14/bill/asm/ab_0751-0800/ab_788_bill_20130627_status.html

So please do not send faxes or emails or put in calls to the Committee expressing opposition to a bill that won't be heard on July 2.

AB 251 (Wagner) - DEAD AS OF APRIL 9!
This bill would have allowed for ER in family law courts. It got crushed in the Assembly Judiciary Committee, with no Democrats and only three Republicans voting for it. (Assemblymember Wagner, a Republican, is Vice-Chair of the Committee).

AB 566 (Weickowski) YAY!! ALIVE AND KICKING!
This SEIU, AFSCME-sponsored bill, supported by DRA and others, would make the Judicial Council abide by the same common-sense rules that apply to every other government agency when it comes to privatizing court services, as with ER. It passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 25 (DRA showed up to lend support) and is now in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS IS PART OF NEW AGENCY
As part of the Governor's plan to re-organize state government, the Department of Consumer Affairs - which houses the Court Reporters Board -- is part of the new Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. But, don't worry. Nothing will change when it comes to the Board, Board members, or the laws regulating your license.

REMINDER:

TIME TO REGISTER FOR THE DRA FALL SEMINAR

Don't forget to register NOW for our seminar THE BUSINESS OF REPORTING in the gorgeous Napa Valley on September 28 at the spectacular Embassy Suites in the heart of wine country!

DRA's events have uniformly been selling out in recent years and this one - put on by the biggest and first association in the nation devoted solely to YOU, the freelance professional - will be no different!

We know you because WE ARE YOU! WE ARE YOUR DRA!

So hurry up and don't miss out! To learn more about this exciting event, CLICK HERE: http://www.caldra.org/business-of-reporting