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Court reporting rules moved forward after department says changes are non‑substantive
Summary
Department of Commerce and Insurance staff told the Government Operations committee the rule transfer replaces the terminated board with a Tennessee Court Reporting Program, clarifies formatting and authorizes up to $1,000 civil penalties for unlicensed activity; the committee gave the rule a positive recommendation.
The Government Operations committee on June 17 advanced a set of rules transferring authority from the now‑terminated Board of Court Reporting to a new Tennessee Court Reporting Program, department staff told the panel.
"These rules are promulgated pursuant to public chapter 5 24 of 2025 and the department's retrospective rule review pursuant to TCA 4 5 2 13," Reed Witcher, Assistant Commissioner for Regulatory Boards at the Department of Commerce and Insurance, told members. Witcher said the filing removes references to the old board, replaces them with references to the program and that the structural formatting changes do not make substantive changes to existing requirements. He also said the program is authorized to assess a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for unlicensed activity.
Witcher reported the department held a public rulemaking hearing on Oct. 30, 2025, and received one comment from the Tennessee Court Reporting Association; the department accepted a citation correction but did not incorporate a second suggested change because it was outside the scope of the rulemaking. After presentation and no questions from committee members, the committee moved a positive recommendation. The clerk recorded seven ayes in the senate roll call; a subsequent house voice vote carried with a single nay noted.
Why it matters: the change consolidates oversight of court‑reporting licensure under the department and creates an explicit civil‑penalty authority for unlicensed activity, clarifying enforcement tools available to regulators.
What’s next: the rule was moved out of committee with a positive recommendation in both chambers and will proceed through each chamber's review process.
