Davis unveils bipartisan bill to spur careers in realtime writing

U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) wants to help colleges and universities across the country train more realtime writers to serve the millions of Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing.

Rep. Davis on Dec. 3 introduced a bipartisan bill to reauthorize competitive grants for training court reporters and closed captioners under the Training for Realtime Writers Act, which became law as part of the Higher Education Act of 2008.

“The Training for Real-Time Writers grant is an important grant program that ensures we have the necessary resources to train court reporters and captioners for the estimated 48 million Americans who are deaf or impacted by hearing loss,” Rep. Davis said.

The congressman is the lead original cosponsor of H.R. 5285 with bill sponsor U.S. Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI). The bill would also ensure that requirements are met for realtime writers under the Communications Act of 1934, according to the congressional record bill summary.

“These funds have been incredibly successful in training the current generation of captioners and court reporters by modernizing curriculums, developing new captioning-specific programs, and increasing attendance at institutes of learning through student recruitment, scholarships, advertisements, equipment upgrades, and distance learning programs,” said Rep. Davis.

The grant program allows colleges and universities to apply for funds to help encourage more students to pursue careers in realtime writing, closed captioning or court reporting, according to a bill summary provided by the lawmaker’s office.

“I’m proud to be introducing this legislation to reauthorize this program with my colleague, Rep. Kind and look forward to working to ensure it is included as the House tackles Higher Education Reauthorization this Congress,” Rep. Davis added.

H.R. 5285 is supported by the Illinois Court Reporters Association and has been referred for consideration to the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee.