On June 1, 1998, President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

issued a Memorandum on Plain Language in Government Writing.
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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 proposed legislation under consideration by a legislature. A bill does not become law until it is passed by the legislature as well as, in most cases, approved by the executive. Once a bill has been enacted into law, it is called an '' ...

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 codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as ...

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 Nor ...

: * Use plain writing in every covered document that the agency issues or substantially revises * Train employees in "plain writing" * 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 a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

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.

References

External links

PlainLanguage.gov

2018 Report Card
by the independent Center for Plain Language, for each federal department {{authority control United States federal government administration legislation Plain English Acts of the 111th United States Congress

Example

See also

References

External links