Reinventing government : the role of plain language

Abstract

Although the focus of the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993 was on strategic planning (specifically on requiring annual performance plans and reports), on managerial accountability and flexibility, and on performance budgeting, the Clinton Administration closely linked the success of reinventing government to a plain language initiative throughout the federal government.

A Plain Language Action Network (PLAN) was established as part of Vice President Al Gore's National Partnership for Reinventing Government (NPR). Here are some of the results of this initiative: (1) The Plain English Network (PEN), whose members represent agencies throughout the federal government, all with a special interest in and dedication to the use of plain language in all government documents; (2) The production of a major guidance document entitled "Writing User-Friendly Documents," which is available on-line at PLAN's home page on the World Wide Web (http:/plainlanguage.gov/main.htm), and, in June of 1998, (3) the issuance of a presidential memorandum to heads of executive departments and agencies requiring the use of plain language in government documents.

This memorandum included a summary of the document cited in (2) and set deadlines for the use of plain language in government documents: October 1, 1998 in all new documents, other than regulations, that relate to obtaining government benefits and services and January 1, 1999 in all proposed and final rulemakings published in the Federal Register. The memorandum further specified that by January 1, 2002, all documents created prior to October 1, 1998 must also be in plain language.

In addition to describing the above initiates in more detail, this presentation will present examples of revisions of documents in English to comply with the plain language directive of the president, and will make some initial proposals (based on preliminary analysis of government documents in Spanish) on how such an initiative might be implemented in Spanish-speaking countries.