Cheek, Anetta L.

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The Plain Language Experience of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government

Penn State Dickinson Law: IDEAS

Volume 105 Issue 2 Dickinson Law Review - Volume 105, 2000-2001 1-1-2001 The Plain Language Experience of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government Anetta L. Cheek Follow this and additional works at: https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/dlra Recommended Citation Anetta L. Cheek, The Plain Language Experience of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government, 105 DICK. L. REV. 233 (2001). Available at: https://ideas.dickinsonlaw.psu.edu/dlra/vol105/iss2/9 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews at Dickinson Law IDEAS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dickinson Law Review by an authorized editor of Dickinson Law IDEAS. For more information, please contact lja10@psu.edu. Symposium on Federal GovernmentSimplification ExperiencesThe Plain Language Experience of theNational Partnership for ReinventingGovernmentAnnetta L. Cheek*Note: Since this speech, the work of the National Partnershipfor Reinventing Government has ended, since it was a part of thenVice-President Gore's office. Dr. Cheek continues to work on plainlanguage issues from her current position in the Administrator'soffice at the Federal Aviation Administration. The government-wide Plain Language Group continues to meet monthly to advancethe cause of clear communication from the Federal government.I. Getting the Federal Government to Write Better-June 1998Presidential MemoI am currently associated with something called the NationalPartnership for Reinventing Government, which is a task forceunder the Vice President's Office. My job is to get the federalgovernment to write better. I do not expect to run out of work for awhile. However, I think we have already made a lot of progress.Our major achievement, I think we have many majorachievements, was in June of 1998, when the President issued amemorandum telling agencies that they were supposed to write inplain language. We defined plain language in that memorandum as"something that your intended reader could understand the first* Chair, Plain English Network, National Partnership for ReinventingGovernment, Washington, D.C. You can contact Dr. Cheek about plain languageissues at acheek@patriot.netDICKINSON LAW REVIEWtime they read it." This is a huge challenge, particularly for myattorney friends.II. Overview of Simplification RulesWe had a few other simple rules: active voice, reasonablyshort sentences, vertical lists, all the kinds of things you read indocument after document about plain language. Sometimes Iwonder why a lot of people are writing about it but not nearlyenough people are doing it. We have had a lot of good progress inthe federal government. However, it is really difficult to turn thathuge ship of state even a degree or two. The most notable successis, of course, the Securities & Exchange Commission. We have alsoseen a lot of action from the Food & Drug Administration.III. Movement Towards Plain EnglishIn a few months when you pick up an over-the-countermedication and look at the label, you will see that it is reasonablyclear; that is one of our achievements. The IRS is working veryhard on this. They are having a great deal of trouble. They arereally struggling. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is getting onboard with this and the tiny little Farm Credit Administration, allthree hundred people that regulate the farm credit banks in thenation, are moving toward plain language.IV. Instructional Function of WritingsBut why are we doing this? Why is plain language important?Well, first off, writing really comes down to a set of instructions. Ithink most of what we all write is something designed to changepeople's behavior. Certainly that is what a federal regulatoryagency is doing when it writes regulations. It is what the VeteransBenefit Administration does when it sends out a letter to veteransasking them to do something. They are trying to change behavior.If you want people to change behavior you are way ahead of thegame if you make it really clear to them what you want them to do.Whenever I approach a document, my first thought is "Okay, towhom am I writing and what do I want them to do?" For years,regulatory writing incorporated lots of forms. The forms containedstandard language and standard organization which generally didnot contribute to the goal of getting people to change theirbehavior.[Vol. 105:22001] NATIONAL PARTNERSHIP FOR REINVENTING GOVERNMENT 235V. Work of Veteran's Benefit AdministrationOne really good example of how an agency succeeded inchanging behavior and thereby saving money, which is another goalof the federal government, was the Veterans' Benefit Admin-istration. That Agency decided to write plain language letters toveterans asking them to update their beneficiaries. If you are aveteran and you get letters, you should be seeing a strong trendtoward plain language. The Veterans' Benefit Administrationwanted an answer to this particular letter because every time aveteran dies without a valid beneficiary, it costs the Agency lots ofmoney to go out and research the beneficiary. The normalresponse rate to this letter, which the Agency sends out everyseveral years, was 35 percent. They rewrote the letter in plainlanguage and increased the response rate to 55 percent, therebysaving about $8 million in one cycle. Accordingly, another reasonto write plain language, besides the fact that you want to get peopleto do something, is that it saves money. It will save them time andit will save you money.VI. Lawyers and Judges Preference for Plain EnglishSince I am speaking, I assume, mostly to law school people, Ithink a little anecdote from Joe Kimble and the Thomas CooleyLaw School might be in order here. He has been a very strongadvocate of plain language for a lot of years. A few years ago hesent out some sample paragraphs from an imaginary brief to 1500lawyers and judges in the state of Michigan. He did not label themas the plain version, or the legalistic version. He just labeled themA and B. He asked the judges and attorneys which they preferred.Eighty percent preferred the plain English version. Moreimportantly, they said that they felt that the attorneys who wrotethe plain language version were probably from more prestigiouslaw schools, or worked for more prestigious law firms. There isapparently something in the mindset of attorneys that says if youwrite well, you came from a good law school. My challenge to youis to make sure that everyone who reads the products of yourstudents thinks that your students came from a very prestigious lawschool.* * *

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The Plain Language Experience of the National Partnership for Reinventing Government

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