The Battle for the Record Is Here — and CCRA Needs You

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Your Profession. Your Record. Your Voice. CCRA Needs You.

In an unprecedented and decisive stand to defend the very foundation of justice — the integrity of the record — the California Court Reporters Association (CCRA) has retained renowned labor attorney Scott A. Kronland of Altshuler Berzon LLP to represent California’s licensed and certified court reporters before the California Supreme Court in the pivotal case Family Violence Appellate Project (FVAP) v. Superior Courts of California.

This case could redefine how — and by whom — California’s court record is created, preserved, and trusted.
At stake is nothing less than the future of our profession and the reliability of the judicial record itself.

The Heart of the Case: Protecting the Record

The Family Violence Appellate Project (FVAP) has petitioned the California Supreme Court to declare Government Code section 69957 unconstitutional.
That statute — long regarded as a cornerstone of courtroom integrity — expressly forbids electronic recording of court proceedings except in limited case types such as infractions or where specifically authorized by law.

In its petition, FVAP argues that this prohibition unfairly impacts low-income litigants, claiming it restricts access to justice when no reporter is provided. Their proposed “solution”?
To allow widespread electronic recording in place of licensed, certified, and regulated court reporters.

But what FVAP is truly proposing is legislating from the bench — asking the Supreme Court to dismantle long-standing statutory protections enacted by the Legislature and upheld by decades of judicial precedent.

If granted, their request would open the floodgates for unchecked electronic recording across California’s courts, subjecting the public — and those most vulnerable — to substandard, inaccurate, and easily manipulated transcripts.
In essence, FVAP’s petition invites an era where the official record could be corrupted, altered, or lost — and with it, the trust of the public in the fairness of judicial proceedings.

The Manufactured Myth of a “Reporter Shortage”

For years, court administrators have spun a narrative of scarcity — that California faces a “shortage” of court reporters so severe that technology must fill the gap. But this crisis is not organic. It is manufactured.

After years of layoffs, furloughs, early retirement incentives, and unfilled vacancies, superior courts across the state systematically dismantled their once-robust reporting staffs. Then, having hollowed out their own ranks, they pointed to the emptiness as justification for replacing human reporters with machines.

The truth tells a different story.
According to the California Court Reporters Board, the profession has grown by 231% in just two fiscal years. Hundreds of newly trained stenographers are entering the workforce, and many more are preparing for upcoming state exams. Far from dying out, court reporting is resurging, driven by new graduates, strong training programs, and the undeniable value of human accuracy.

Even more revealing, the Legislature has allocated $30 million annually for years specifically to support the recruitment and retention of official reporters. Yet some courts have never spent those funds, while others use only a fraction and return the rest. This is not a funding crisis — it’s a management failure. The courts’ neglect has now become their pretext for automation.

Why the Record Matters

A complete, accurate, and impartial record is the bedrock of justice. It ensures that appellate courts can review what truly transpired below. It guarantees transparency and accountability in every ruling, objection, and piece of testimony. And it protects every litigant’s right to a fair hearing.

Without an accurate record, judges go unchecked, errors go uncorrected, and justice becomes unverifiable.
When an AI algorithm or low-fidelity recording replaces a licensed reporter, we invite inaccuracy, tampering, and human rights violations through omission or misrepresentation. The centuries-old armor of checks and balances that protects our courts would be replaced by a “record” that is neither reliable nor trustworthy.

Stenographic reporters are not merely record-keepers — they are the guardians of truth in the courtroom. Every day, they protect the public record through skill, ethics, certification, and impartiality. Their work ensures that appeals are based on fact, not fiction.

A Call to Action – CCRA’s Legal Intervention

CCRA’s leadership has made a bold decision: to stand in the courtroom, not just in spirit but in legal representation, to protect the record and the profession itself.

Because court reporters are not named parties in this litigation, the first step is procedural — to petition the Supreme Court for permission to be heard. If the Court grants that motion, Scott Kronland will then prepare extensive legal arguments defending the constitutionality of Government Code 69957 and the indispensable public interest served by human court reporters.

Kronland, a partner at Altshuler Berzon and one of California’s foremost labor attorneys, brings a long history of defending workers, unions, and professional integrity before the highest courts. His firm’s reputation for excellence and fearless advocacy makes them the ideal counsel to champion our cause at this crucial moment.

This is not just about defending a profession. It’s about defending the right of every Californian to a trustworthy record of their day in court.

The Cost of the Fight

CCRA’s commitment to this cause comes with significant financial responsibility.
Mounting a Supreme Court intervention — complete with briefing, oral argument, and public education — requires substantial legal resources. This is an expensive, high-stakes fight, but it is one we cannot afford to lose.

Every stenographer, student, and supporter has a role to play.
Every dollar helps.
Whether you contribute $10 or $1,000, you are helping ensure that California’s record remains a human record, not a digital facsimile vulnerable to corruption and error.

Membership dues and donations fund battles like this — not hypothetical ones, but real-world legal challenges that threaten the foundation of our work and the security of the public record. When you join or renew your membership, you are not just supporting CCRA — you are investing in the future of your own profession.

The Stakes for the Future

If FVAP’s petition were granted, the ramifications would ripple far beyond the trial courts.
It would set a precedent for AI transcription systems, third-party contractors, and non-certified digital recorders to replace certified human reporters — not just in family law, but in civil and criminal cases statewide.

That outcome would erase decades of hard-won legislative and professional protections. It would devalue the license, the certification, and the trust reporters have earned through years of training and service.
And it would open the door to a two-tier justice system — one where the wealthy have verbatim records produced by licensed professionals, and the poor must settle for corrupted or incomplete digital audio.

California must do better. Justice demands better.
And CCRA is making sure that the Supreme Court hears that message loud and clear.

Your Profession. Your Record. Your Voice.

This moment is a defining one for every reporter in California.
We can either watch as others decide our fate, or we can stand together and speak for ourselves.

If you are not already a member, please join CCRA today.
If you are a member, please donate whatever you can to the Legal Defense Fund. No amount is too small; every contribution is a declaration that our voices — literal and professional — matter.

This is our moment to remind the courts, the Legislature, and the public that justice depends on accuracy, and accuracy depends on us.

Together, we can ensure that when history looks back on this battle, it will remember that California’s reporters did not stay silent — we stood for the record.

Join. Donate. Defend the Record.
➡️ www.cal-ccra.org

Published by stenoimperium

We exist to facilitate the fortifying of the Stenography profession and ensure its survival for the next hundred years! As court reporters, we've handed the relationship role with our customers, or attorneys, over to the agencies and their sales reps.  This has done a lot of damage to our industry.  It has taken away our ability to have those relationships, the ability to be humanized and valued.  We've become a replaceable commodity. Merely saying we are the “Gold Standard” tells them that we’re the best, but there are alternatives.  Who we are though, is much, much more powerful than that!  We are the Responsible Charge.  “Responsible Charge” means responsibility for the direction, control, supervision, and possession of stenographic & transcription work, as the case may be, to assure that the work product has been critically examined and evaluated for compliance with appropriate professional standards by a licensee in the profession, and by sealing and signing the documents, the professional stenographer accepts responsibility for the stenographic or transcription work, respectively, represented by the documents and that applicable stenographic and professional standards have been met.  This designation exists in other professions, such as engineering, land surveying, public water works, landscape architects, land surveyors, fire preventionists, geologists, architects, and more.  In the case of professional engineers, the engineering association adopted a Responsible Charge position statement that says, “A professional engineer is only considered to be in responsible charge of an engineering work if the professional engineer makes independent professional decisions regarding the engineering work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional engineer’s physical presence at the location where the engineering work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the engineering work.” If we were to adopt a Responsible Charge position statement for our industry, we could start with a draft that looks something like this: "A professional court reporter, or stenographer, is only considered to be in responsible charge of court reporting work if the professional court reporter makes independent professional decisions regarding the court reporting work without requiring instruction or approval from another authority and maintains control over those decisions by the professional court reporter’s physical presence at the location where the court reporting work is performed or by electronic communication with the individual executing the court reporting work.” Shared purpose The cornerstone of a strategic narrative is a shared purpose. This shared purpose is the outcome that you and your customer are working toward together. It’s more than a value proposition of what you deliver to them. Or a mission of what you do for the world. It’s the journey that you are on with them. By having a shared purpose, the relationship shifts from consumer to co-creator. In court reporting, our mission is “to bring justice to every litigant in the U.S.”  That purpose is shared by all involved in the litigation process – judges, attorneys, everyone.  Who we are is the Responsible Charge.  How we do that is by Protecting the Record.

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