This week federal agencies are supposed to update Congress on progress made in implementing the Plain Writing Act, passed in 2010, which mandates that government documents be written in clear, plain language, not impenetrable legalese. The Washington Post reports federal agencies are a long way off from compliance.
Why? From the Post:
[W]ith no penalty for inaction on the agencies' part, advocates worry that plain writing has fallen to the bottom of the to-do list, like many another unfunded mandate imposed by Congress. They say many agencies have heeded the 2010 law merely by appointing officials, creating working groups and setting up Web sites.
In Plain English, that means the law lacks the substance to prevent federal agencies from simply creating new bureaucracies to say they're in compliance with it, kind of like the "Paperwork Reduction Act" notice at the end of government forms.
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