Just as a test... before we dive into playing with the registers... you're currently setting HSER_TXSTA to 24h. Since bit 6 of the TXSTA Register selects 8 or 9 bit mode, shouldn't you really be setting TXSTA to 64h??

Therefore try these defines...

DEFINE OSC 20
DEFINE HSER_RCSTA 90h
DEFINE HSER_TXSTA 64h
DEFINE HSER_BAUD 9600
DEFINE HSER_CLROERR 1
DEFINE HSER_EVEN 1
DEFINE HSER_BITS 9