Final Guidance On Implementing The Plain Writing Act of 2010

The Office Of Management and Budget Memo dated April 13th, 2011 on the Final Guidance on Implementation of the Plain Writing Act of 2010:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/memoranda/2011/m11-15.pdf

The Memo notes July 13, 2011 as the first deadline to require that each federal agency must:

designate one or more Senior Officials for Plain Writing who will be responsible for overseeing the agency's implementation of the Act and this guidance;

create a plain writing section of the agency website;

communicate the Act's requirements to agency employees and train agency employees in plain writing;

establish a process by which the agency will oversee its ongoing compliance with the Act's requirements; and

publish an initial report, on the plain writing section of the agency's website, that describes the agency's plan for implementing the Act's requirements.

By October 13, 2011 - agencies must write all new or substantially revised documents in plain writing.

By April 13, 2011 - and annually thereafter, each agency must publish a report that describes its continuing compliance with the Act.

OMB Implementation Strategies include:

consider using incentives such as challenges and prizes to encourage greater use of plain writing;

engage and collaborate with the public; and

identify performance goals by which to measure the progress and impact of plain writing.

Training:

Agencies need to design a plan to determine which employees would benefit the most from training in plain writing, and to what degree.

Employees who regularly write or edit documents covered by the Act should initially be the primary recipients of this training.

Your agency should provide training in plain writing to new employees.

The designated agency Senior Official should be relied upon to determine whether a particular training course appropriately addresses plain writing principles, and the http://www.plainlanguage.gov/ website has training materials posted.

Read more:

Compendium of Plain Writing Act and Training Resources

http://www.plainlanguage.gov/populartopics/regulations/eo12866.pdf

Center For Plain Writing Act of 2010

Technical Communication Center 

Toolkit For Starting Plain Writing In Your Org