Dear FCRA Members:
On behalf of the Board of Directors, I could not be more delighted to announce that for the first time in our history, legislative bills have been filed on FCRA's behalf, in both the Florida House and Florida Senate, calling for the establishment of a mandatory registry for court reporters in Florida. Our Government Relations Committee has been working very closely with our lobbyists, Corinne Mixon and Diana Ferguson from Rutledge Ecenia, and they have been remarkably successful this year.
We are extremely fortunate that Government Relations Committee Chair Rosa Naccarato met with recently elected State Representative Ana Maria Rodriguez, House District 105, and explained what we were trying to establish in the way of a registry and why. Representative Rodriguez immediately agreed to sponsor our bill in the House. Once the House bill was underway, this action paved the way for our lobbyist team to secure a strong Senate bill sponsor, Senator David Simmons, Senate District 9. Senator Simmons is the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, where the Senate bill would be discussed and voted upon, first in committee, before moving to the floor for a vote.
Now that HB 571 and SB 968 have been filed, a group of board members and Government Relations Committee members will be traveling to Tallahassee to lobby for our bills on February 21st. We will also be hosting a reception in Tallahassee at the Governor's Club on Wednesday, February 20th, for the legislators that have been so helpful and for those we hope will support and vote in favor of our bills. Details about the reception are below.
We highly encourage you to join us for Hill Day, February 21st, as we gather in the rotunda, or at the reception the night before.
Further details will follow after our day on the Hill. See you in Tallahassee!
Best regards,
Sharon Velazco, RPR, FPR, CLR
President, Florida Court Reporters Association