Many problems with court administration can be at least partially solved with more funding. But one of its most disturbing challenges cannot be cured with additional money. Rather, the solution requires more trained and qualified people. One current crisis is the severe shortage of court reporters. There just aren’t enough of them, and the question of whether their numbers can somehow be significantly enhanced is now front and center. As a stopgap measure, Los Angeles Superior Court announced some changes that will transfer its court reporters from courts that don’t statutorily require them to other courts that do.

Due to “severe staffing shortages that persist despite new state funding,” the court announced in an August 25 press release, ”beginning November 14, the Court will shift its court reporter workforce” from family law, probate, writs and receiver departments to departments hearing criminal felony and juvenile matters where the law requires the court to provide an official court reporter.”

As the court’s announcement explains, the participation of court reporters in many judicial procedures is not optional. Although court reporters are not statutorily required in most civil, family law, probate, criminal misdemeanor, and traffic courtrooms, California law requires that state courts “must provide court reporters in felony criminal, dependency and juvenile delinquency courtrooms.”

The release went on to explain that it could no longer provide official court reporters because of a “continually shrinking workforce” in California that “mirrors” a shortage nationwide. It said its workforce has dropped from 430 in 2017 to 330 today.

This is not the first press release that addresses the court reporter shortage. On November 2, the CEOs of over 50 California Superior Courts called for changes in laws that are currently exacerbating the shortage of these critical court employees. The Superior Court leaders signed a letter asking lawmakers to “adjust to the new realities of the reporting profession.” They urged support for the use of remote reporting and revocations of prohibitions that require all court reporters to be certified in California. The State requires its own certification, so qualified court reporters who are only certified in other states may not work in California courts either in person or remotely.

These changes and others, such as digital and voice recording, would permit workers to record court proceedings from home and would allow trained court reporters from other states to help alleviate the California shortages that currently exist. As COVID taught employers, working from home is very attractive to young workers.

Other technological methods that could alleviate the shortage are electronic and digital recording. Electronic recording is regulated by a statute in California. It is allowed for limited civil cases, misdemeanors and infractions, but only when a certified court reporter cannot be obtained. Other states routinely allow it.

The need is critical, but two sections of California’s Government Codes currently mandate that court reporters be personally present in courtrooms, so emerging technologies that could facilitate remote reporting are prohibited.

In 2019, California passed a bill that forbade remote reporters from recording official court records and stopped them from using state money to obtain remote reporting equipment...But that temporarily changed during the COVID crisis. Remote reporting was permitted in criminal courts from April 2020 to December 2021. The California Senate passed a bill in September 2021 that allows many civil proceedings to be conducted with witnesses and attorneys attending remotely. But this bill did not cover court reporters. They must still be physically present.

There is no doubt that court reporters play a vital role in the justice system. They create and preserve the official, verbatim records of courtroom proceedings. They record all the testimony, comments, and orders of witnesses, attorneys and judges. To do this, they input “specialized shorthand into a stenotype machine.” This is immediately converted into English that can be printed out and used by attorneys to help them review depositions and prepare witness testimony and cross-examinations, among other things.

There are several reasons for the shortage that affects not just California but the whole country. In 2013-14, the National Court Reporters Association (NCRA) published The Court Reporting Industry Outlook Report by Drucker Worldwide, a marketing intelligence agency. The goal of the report was to determine why the shortage was happening and to present an accurate picture of the present and future supply and demand. Their findings are disturbing everywhere but are especially critical in California and other high-crime and high-litigation states like New York, Illinois, Florida and Texas. And more recent studies show that the chronic shortage is getting worse every year.

Why is it happening? The first cause is the age of the qualified personnel pool. When the study was conducted, 70% of working court reporters were 46 years of age or older. Next, the job is simply not attractive to young people. In 2019, it was estimated that 82,000 new students were needed nationwide. Even though trained graduates are nearly guaranteed well-paying jobs, only 2,500 were enrolled in proper training programs. Even worse, enrollment was rarely followed by graduation. Only 10% made it out of demanding court reporter programs.

Finally, the programs that produce certified court reporters are dwindling. In 2021 only nine remained in California. Only 175 graduates even took the licensing exam in 2021 and only six passed. California’s Judicial Council in 2018 projected a gap of “approximately 2,750 court reporters by 2023.”

Superior Court leaders say “Every litigant in California should have access to the record. Ideally, this would be provided by a court reporter but when none are available, other options need to be available to the courts.” It is almost 2023. The clock for finding and using those new options seems to be running out.