2011 California Code
Business and Professions Code
DIVISION 3. PROFESSIONS AND VOCATIONS GENERALLY [5000 - 9998.8]
ARTICLE 3. Application, Examination, and Certificate; Requirement and Contents
Section 8027

(a) As used in this section, school means a court reporter training program or an institution that provides a course of instruction approved by the board and the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education, is a public school in this state, or is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

(b) A court reporting school shall be primarily organized to train students for the practice of shorthand reporting, as defined in Sections 8016 and 8017. Its educational program shall be on the postsecondary or collegiate level. It shall be legally organized and authorized to conduct its program under all applicable laws of the state, and shall conform to and offer all components of the minimum prescribed course of study established by the board. Its records shall be kept and shall be maintained in a manner to render them safe from theft, fire, or other loss. The records shall indicate positive daily and clock-hour attendance of each student for all classes, apprenticeship and graduation reports, high school transcripts or the equivalent or self-certification of high school graduation or the equivalent, transcripts of other education, and student progress to date, including all progress and counseling reports.

(c) Any school intending to offer a program in court reporting shall notify the board within 30 days of the date on which it provides notice to, or seeks approval from, the State Department of Education, the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education, the Office of the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges, or the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, whichever is applicable. The board shall review the proposed curriculum and provide the school tentative approval, or notice of denial, within 60 days of receipt of the notice. The school shall apply for provisional recognition pursuant to subdivision (d) within no more than one year from the date it begins offering court reporting classes.

(d) The board may grant provisional recognition to a new court reporting school upon satisfactory evidence that it has met all of the provisions of subdivision (b) and this subdivision. Recognition may be granted by the board to a provisionally recognized school after it has been in continuous operation for a period of no less than three consecutive years from the date provisional recognition was granted, during which period the school shall provide satisfactory evidence that at least one person has successfully completed the entire course of study established by the board and complied with the provisions of Section 8020, and has been issued a certificate to practice shorthand reporting as defined in Sections 8016 and 8017. The board may, for good cause shown, extend the three-year provisional recognition period for not more than one year. Failure to meet the provisions and terms of this section shall require the board to deny recognition. Once granted, recognition may be withdrawn by the board for failure to comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

(e) Application for recognition of a court reporting school shall be made upon a form prescribed by the board and shall be accompanied by all evidence, statements, or documents requested. Each branch, extension center, or off-campus facility requires separate application.

(f) All recognized and provisionally recognized court reporting schools shall notify the board of any change in school name, address, telephone number, responsible court reporting program manager, owner of private schools, and the effective date thereof, within 30 days of the change. All of these notifications shall be made in writing.

(g) A school shall notify the board in writing immediately of the discontinuance or pending discontinuance of its court reporting program or any of the program s components. Within two years of the date this notice is sent to the board, the school shall discontinue its court reporting program in its entirety. The board may, for good cause shown, grant not more than two one-year extensions of this period to a school. If a student is to be enrolled after this notice is sent to the board, a school shall disclose to the student the fact of the discontinuance or pending discontinuance of its court reporting program or any of its program components.

(h) The board shall maintain a roster of currently recognized and provisionally recognized court reporting schools, including, but not limited to, the name, address, telephone number, and the name of the responsible court reporting program manager of each school.

(i) The board shall maintain statistics that display the number and passing percentage of all first-time examinees, including, but not limited to, those qualified by each recognized or provisionally recognized school and those first-time examinees qualified by other methods as defined in Section 8020.

(j) Inspections and investigations shall be conducted by the board as necessary to carry out this section, including, but not limited to, unannounced site visits.

(k) All recognized and provisionally recognized schools shall print in their school or course catalog the name, address, and telephone number of the board. At a minimum, the information shall be in 8-point bold type and include the following statement:

IN ORDER FOR A PERSON TO QUALIFY FROM A SCHOOL TO TAKE THE STATE LICENSING EXAMINATION, THE PERSON SHALL COMPLETE A PROGRAM AT A RECOGNIZED SCHOOL. FOR INFORMATION CONCERNING THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS THAT A COURT REPORTING PROGRAM MUST MEET IN ORDER TO BE RECOGNIZED, CONTACT: THE COURT REPORTERS BOARD OF CALIFORNIA; (ADDRESS); (TELEPHONE NUMBER).

(l) Each court reporting school shall file with the board, not later than June 30 of each year, a current school catalog that shows all course offerings and staff, and for private schools, the owner, except that where there have been no changes to the catalog within the previous year, no catalog need be sent. In addition, each school shall also file with the board a statement certifying whether the school is in compliance with all statutes and the rules and regulations of the board, signed by the responsible court reporting program manager.

(m) A school offering court reporting shall not make any written or verbal claims of employment opportunities or potential earnings unless those claims are based on verified data and reflect current employment conditions.

(n) If a school offers a course of instruction that exceeds the board s minimum requirements, the school shall disclose orally and in writing the board s minimum requirements and how the course of instruction differs from those criteria. The school shall make this disclosure before a prospective student executes an agreement obligating that person to pay any money to the school for the course of instruction. The school shall also make this disclosure to all students enrolled on January 1, 2002.

(o) Private and public schools shall provide each prospective student with all of the following and have the prospective student sign a document that shall become part of that individual s permanent record, acknowledging receipt of each item:

(1) A student consumer information brochure published by the board.

(2) A list of the school s graduation requirements, including the number of tests, the pass point of each test, the speed of each test, and the type of test, such as jury charge or literary.

(3) A list of requirements to qualify for the state-certified shorthand reporter licensing examination, including the number of tests, the pass point of each test, the speed of each test, and the type of test, such as jury charge or literary, if different than those requirements listed in paragraph (2).

(4) A copy of the school s board-approved benchmarks for satisfactory progress as identified in subdivision (u).

(5) A report showing the number of students from the school who qualified for each of the certified shorthand reporter licensing examinations within the preceding two years, the number of those students that passed each examination, the time, as of the date of qualification, that each student was enrolled in court reporting school, and the placement rate for all students that passed each examination.

(6) On and after January 1, 2005, the school shall also provide to prospective students the number of hours each currently enrolled student who has qualified to take the next licensing test, exclusive of transfer students, has attended court reporting classes.

(p) All enrolled students shall have the information in subdivisions (n) and (o) on file no later than June 30, 2005.

(q) Public schools shall provide the information in subdivisions (n) and (o) to each new student the first day he or she attends theory or machine speed class, if it was not provided previously.

(r) Each enrolled student shall be provided written notification of any change in qualification or graduation requirements that is being implemented due to the requirements of any one of the school s oversight agencies. This notice shall be provided to each affected student at least 30 days before the effective date of the change and shall state the new requirement and the name, address, and telephone number of the agency that is requiring it of the school. Each student shall initial and date a document acknowledging receipt of that information and that document, or a copy thereof, shall be made part of the student s permanent file.

(s) Schools shall make available a comprehensive final examination in each academic subject to any student desiring to challenge an academic class in order to obtain credit towards certification for the state licensing examination. The points required to pass a challenge examination shall not be higher than the minimum points required of other students completing the academic class.

(t) An individual serving as a teacher, instructor, or reader shall meet the qualifications specified by regulation for his or her position.

(u) Each school shall provide a substitute teacher or instructor for any class for which the teacher or instructor is absent for two consecutive days or more.

(v) The board has the authority to approve or disapprove benchmarks for satisfactory progress which each school shall develop for its court reporting program. Schools shall use only board-approved benchmarks to comply with the provisions of paragraph (4) of subdivision (o) and subdivision (u).

(w) Each school shall counsel each student a minimum of one time within each 12-month period to identify the level of attendance and progress, and the prognosis for completing the requirements to become eligible to sit for the state licensing examination. If the student has not progressed in accordance with the board-approved benchmarks for that school, the student shall be counseled a minimum of one additional time within that same 12-month period.

(x) The school shall provide to the board, for each student qualifying through the school as eligible to sit for the state licensing examination, the number of hours the student attended court reporting classes, both academic and machine speed classes, including theory.

(y) The pass rate of first-time examination takers for each school offering court reporting shall meet or exceed the average pass rate of all first-time test takers for a majority of examinations given for the preceding three years. Failure to do so shall require the board to conduct a review of the program. In addition, the board may place the school on probation and may withdraw recognition if the school continues to place below the above-described standard on the two examinations that follow the three-year period.

(z) A school shall not require more than one 10-minute qualifying examination, as defined in the regulations of the board, for a student to be eligible to sit for the state certification examination.

(aa) A school shall provide the board the actual number of hours of attendance for each applicant the school qualifies for the state licensing examination.

(ab) The board shall, by December 1, 2001, do the following by regulation as necessary:

(1) Establish the format that shall be used by schools to report tracking of all attendance hours and actual timeframes for completed coursework.

(2) Require schools to provide a minimum of 10 hours of live dictation class each school week for every full-time student.

(3) Require schools to provide students with the opportunity to read back from their stenographic notes a minimum of one time each day to his or her instructor.

(4) Require schools to provide students with the opportunity to practice with a school-approved speed-building audio recording, or other assigned material, a minimum of one hour per day after school hours as a homework assignment and provide the notes from this audio recording to their instructor the following day for review.

(5) Develop standardization of policies on the use and administration of qualifier examinations by schools.

(6) Define qualifier examination as follows: the qualifier examination shall consist of 4-voice testimony of 10-minute duration at 200 words per minute, graded at 97.5 percent accuracy, and in accordance with the guidelines followed by the board. Schools shall be required to date and number each qualifier and announce the date and number to the students at the time of administering the qualifier. All qualifiers shall indicate the actual dictation time of the test and the school shall catalog and maintain the qualifier for a period of not less than three years for the purpose of inspection by the board.

(7) Require schools to develop a program to provide students with the opportunity to interact with professional court reporters to provide skill support, mentoring, or counseling that they can document at least quarterly.

(8) Define qualifications and educational requirements required of instructors and readers that read test material and qualifiers.

(ac) The board shall adopt regulations to implement the requirements of this section not later than September 1, 2002.

(ad) The board may recover costs for any additional expenses incurred under the enactment amending this section in the 2001 02 Regular Session of the Legislature pursuant to its fee authority in Section 8031.

(Amended by Stats. 2009, Ch. 88, Sec. 4. Effective January 1, 2010.)