By Dutton H.B. No. 696 75R3799 MLS-D A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to court reporting firms. 1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-4 SECTION 1. Section 52.021(b), Government Code, is amended 1-5 to read as follows: 1-6 (b) A person may not engage in shorthand reporting in this 1-7 state unless the person is an official court reporter or is: 1-8 (1) certified as a shorthand reporter by the supreme 1-9 court; and 1-10 (2) an independent contractor for or employed by a 1-11 court reporting firm in which a person certified as a shorthand 1-12 reporter by the supreme court is a partner, shareholder, or owner 1-13 with an ownership interest of at least 51 percent of the firm. 1-14 SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997. 1-15 SECTION 3. The importance of this legislation and the 1-16 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 1-17 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 1-18 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 1-19 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.