Flygare Associates Presents Transcripts Today New Rules

Flygare & Associates Presents Transcripts Today New Rules and Issues

Roger Flygare • Husband dad • Dedicated professional in the court reporter community since 1978 • Business owner • President Washington Court Reporters • Past president of the Washington Freelance Shorthand Reporters Association • Served on reporter education committees at Green River Community College • Past chairman Washington State Department of Licensing Court Reporter Advisor Committee • Liaison between the reporting community and the Department of Licensing. • Former director of Secure Justice • Instrumental in drafting and worked to pass HB 2861 and SB 6450

On The Docket For Today • • • House Bill 2861 (Oath Bill) Senate Bill 6450 (Continuing Education Law) Transcript Stretching Transcript Padding Put It All Together

House Bill 2861 Places Washington Certified Court Reporters into the group of people authorized to administer oaths and affirmations.

House Bill 2861 This is important because many court reporters charge a notary fee. Check your invoices to see if you’re incurring these minor charges after June 9, 2010.

House Bill 2861 Note that the last line of the new certificate (cert page) says, “I have hereunto set my hand affixed my Washington State CCR Seal…” If your reporter does not have a seal, their signature and WA CCR Number is sufficient to certify the document.

Signing of House Bill 2861 (This guy looks pretty important) Photo courtesy of the Washington State House of Representatives. Pictured from left to right: Roger Flygare, Rick Jensen, Governor Christine Gregoire, Dylan Doty, and Gordon Walgren.

Senate Bill 6450 Makes continuing education mandatory for court reporters. (WAC structure for the new requirements are currently under development)

Senate Bill 6450 Many states around the nation require this educational requirement for licensed professional court reporters.

Signing of Senate Bill 6450 He’s Back! Photo courtesy of the Washington State Senate. Pictured from left to right: Roger Flygare, Rick Jensen, Dylan Doty, Governor Christine Gregoire, Gordon Walgren, Mark King, and Donna Bankston

Transcript Stretching • Stretching refers to transcripts where there are fewer letters/words on a page than required by WAC.

Transcript Stretching • • • HOW? Clever Indentations Smaller letter counts per line Different Fonts Margin Size Format

Transcript Stretching This Becomes A AA AA A A AAAA THIS A A

Transcript Stretching Correct Invoice Amount $678. 50 Then… 100 Pages Becomes 110 Stretched Pages Stretched Invoice Amount $722. 50 $44. 00 Difference

Transcript Stretching Companies are not regulated and held to the same standards as Certified Court Reporters.

Transcript Padding Refers to adding pages such as word indices and so forth when those items haven’t been ordered.

Transcript Padding This Becomes This

Transcript Padding Correct Invoice Amount $678. 50 Then… 100 Pages Becomes 125 Pages Stretched Invoice Amount $788. 50 $110. 00 Difference !

Transcript Padding This is occurring around the country and can add a huge cost to the price of transcript!

Transcript Padding A recent class action lawsuit was settled in King County.

Put It All Together What This Means For You • House Bill 2861 (Oath Bill) Court Reporters will now be able to administer oaths and affirmations • Senate Bill 6450 (Continuing Education Law) Court Reporters are now among the licensed professionals required to keep their education current and up-to-date. • Transcript Stretching Watch your transcripts formatting issues (correct margins, font size, etc. ) • Transcript Padding Be on the lookout for paying full per-page price for generated word index pages that you did not order.

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