Plain Writing Act of 2010 - H.R.946

I have been wondering about this law for a little while now.

I could use a lot of help from my fellow ats'r's...

I have heard much about America trying to 'Dumb' down all of us but...

This law just seems to go against all of my grain, to say the least...

"The Plain Writing Act of 2010 (H.R. 946; Pub.L. 111-274) is a United States federal law that requires that federal executive agencies use plain writing in every covered document that the agency issues or substantially revises[3]
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 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; and
designate one or more agency points-of-contact to receive and respond to public input on the implementation of this Act.

Really? Use plain English?
In Ameica???
Who would of thought...

Seriously now...

This is what this law REALLY mean:

"POLICE!-!(officer shouts)
"LAY DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW!!

Now- the new police enforcement battalion(PEB) can do anything they want...

Without being touched by any civilians...

Like we had a chance anyways....



Thoughts or opinions???

Thanks...

Peace
MD

I'm not sure I understand your concern. Isn't this a preventative to reduce occluding language in documents. Kind of a way to ensure that the average American isn't bogged down by a bunch of 'blah-blah' so that they can understand what in the heck they are reading?

reply to post by AlphaBetaGammaX


I think your post just about sums things up. A law like this would reduce the text in the Obamacare legislation by at least 1,000 pages.

yea im pretty sure this is about new laws being wrote not police. Most new bills are hundreds of pages of confusing legalese which makes reps not read them, makes citizens not understand them, and leaves plenty of loopholes because of wording.

I think its a good thing

This is on-topic; just stay with me for a couple of minutes.

Recently I read information that federal tax laws apply only to certain members of the military and people who have worked directly for the federal government. (I've forgotten much of the information. I'll try to look it up and bring it back here.)

The entire argument rests on the meaning of the word "includes" in legaleze. There are apparently two disparate meanings to the word; one that applies only to those entities or individuals named in the "includes" list, and one that applies to society as a whole, but with clarification that it also includes those entities or individuals named in the "includes" list. The writer shows evidence, going back to Lincoln's original tax laws, that the "includes" or "including" in question had the first meaning (only those in the list).

It's been an uphill battle for him--as you can well imagine. But he's had some unambiguous wins on those grounds. What I'm getting at is that a clarification of tax laws could put the tax-collection criminals out of business--if the laws were written in plain language.

How successful implementation of a plain-language law would bear on this is open to question. But it would be a good start....