HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

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Dear Reporters,

Firstly, an announcement: The Executive Committee of the CCRA voted to install John Brandon as its interim president, and he is now serving in that role. John is and will continue to be working with the Executive Committee to move our profession forward and preserve our hard-won gains.

Unfortunately, as most of us are aware, effective January 1, 2018, the Connecticut Legislature voted to revoke licensure for several professions, and court reporting is one of them. Therefore, our Board of Examiners is to be dissolved, and our license is to be cancelled as of that date. Your Board and our lobbyists worked hard to forestall this effort, and failed.

We won’t waste time and space here to argue why our profession needs cohesion and unity in order to remain relevant and in control of making the record into the future. Suffice it to say that Connecticut now holds the dubious distinction of being the only state that has revoked licensure for court reporters. The next session of the Legislature begins February 3, 2018, and we are already working with our lobbyists to make sure that we have language ready to be submitted to reinstate our license.

We are going to recreate the efforts we made 16 years ago to lobby individual members of the House and Senate as our bill moves through the various committees, and we will be calling on you to contact your representatives, and to show up at the state capitol on critical hearing days to show your support. We learned 16 years ago that having just a small group, 10 or 15 folks, has a huge impact on vote days at the statehouse. Your Board has decided to make every effort to preserve the unity and continuity of our membership and not lose focus as we move through this critical time. To that end, we intend to offer a CSR designation to all CCRA members.

This would mean that all of us would keep our license number, but instead of "LSR” we would be "CSR” on our transcripts and letterhead. There will be no CEUs needed during this time. CSR ID cards will be issued, and every reporter who continues to maintain their CSR status will automatically be issued the new LSR designation once it passes into law.

The Bar of CT will be made aware of our new CSR status, and we expect both the CTLA and CBA to help us regain our license. Included with this letter is an application for the CSR, and please send this in before January 31, 2018. Your association needs your support, so please be a part of our efforts on your behalf.

Thank you,

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