By Thompson                                           H.B. No. 2709
         76R6707 DB-F                           
                                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.  Sections 52.021(b), (h), and (i), Government
 1-5     Code, are amended to read as follows:
 1-6           (b)  Except as provided by Subsection (d), a [A] person may
 1-7     not engage in shorthand reporting in this state unless the person
 1-8     is certified as a shorthand reporter by the supreme court, and is:
 1-9                 (1)  an official court reporter of a court in this
1-10     state or an employee  of an official court reporter of a court in
1-11     this state;
1-12                 (2)  a self-employed freelance shorthand reporter; or
1-13                 (3)  an independent contractor for or employed by a
1-14     court reporting firm in which a majority of the ownership of the
1-15     firm is held by one or more persons who are:
1-16                       (A)  certified as shorthand reporters by the
1-17     supreme court; or
1-18                       (B)  related within the first degree of
1-19     consanguinity or affinity as determined under Subchapter B, Chapter
1-20     573, to a person who is certified as a shorthand reporter by the
1-21     supreme court.
1-22           (h)  A court reporting firm shall register with the board by:
1-23                 (1)  completing an application in a form adopted by the
1-24     board; and
 2-1                 (2)  paying a reasonable fee as set by the board.
 2-2           (i)  Rules applicable to a court reporter are also applicable
 2-3     to a court reporting firm.  The board may enforce this subsection
 2-4     by assessing a [reasonable] fee not to exceed $5,000 against a
 2-5     court reporting firm.
 2-6           SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1999.
 2-7           SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
 2-8     crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
 2-9     emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
2-10     constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
2-11     days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.