On June 1, 1998, President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
issued a Memorandum on Plain Language in Government Writing.
PDF The rationale for this memorandum was to "make the Government more responsive, accessible, and understandable in its communications with the public" and its goal is to save the Government and the private sector "time, effort and money." Accompanying guidance was issued at the time the memorandum entered the record.
Signed into law
A bill is a proposal for a new law, or a proposal to substantially alter an existing law.
A bill does not become law until it has been passed by the legislature and, in most cases, approved by the executive.
Bills are introduced in the leg ...
on October 13, 2010, by President Obama, the Plain Writing Act of 2010 (; ) is a
United States federal law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of Codification (law), codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is the nation's Constitution of the United States, Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the ...
that requires that federal
executive agencies
An executive agency is a part of a government department that is treated as managerially and budgetarily separate, to carry out some part of the executive functions of the United Kingdom government, Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Nort ...
:
* Use
plain writing in every covered document that the agency issues or substantially revises
* Train employees in "plain writing" practices
* Establish a process for overseeing the agency's
compliance with this Act
* Create and maintain a plain writing section on the agency's
website
A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...
to inform the public of agency compliance with the requirements of this Act
* Provide a mechanism for the agency to receive and respond to public input on agency implementation and agency reports required under this Act, and be accessible from its homepage
* Designate one or more agency points-of-contact to receive and respond to public input on the implementation of this Act
Example
Before:
The amount of expenses reimbursed to a claimant
A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...
under this subpart shall be reduced by any amount that the claimant receives from a collateral source. In cases in which a claimant receives reimbursement under this subpart for expenses that also will or may be reimbursed from another source, the claimant shall subrogate the United States to the claim for payment from the collateral source up to the amount for which the claimant was reimbursed under this subpart.
After:
If you get a payment from a collateral source, we will reduce our payment by the amount you get. If you get payments from us and from a collateral source for the same expenses, you must pay us back the amount we paid you.
See also
*
Paperwork Reduction Act
The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980 (Pub. L. No. 96-511, 94 Stat. 2812, codified at ) is a United States federal law enacted in 1980 designed to reduce the total amount of paperwork burden the federal government imposes on private businesses an ...
References
External links
PlainLanguage.gov2018 Report Cardby the independent Center for Plain Language, for each federal department
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United States federal government administration legislation
Plain English
Acts of the 111th United States Congress