Federal Plain Language Analysis

An Application of Federal Plain Language Guidelines

Introduction

The Plain Language in Government Communications Act of 2008 states: “In this Act...The term ‘plain language’ means language that the intended audience can readily understand and use because it is clear, concise, well-organized, and follows other best practices of plain language writing” (sec. 3). Federal Plain Language Guidelines were published in 2011 to provide the principles of plain language which should be applied in documents of the federal government. These guidelines were developed to help public organizations produce documents that are designed and organized to be easily understood by users. This paper will assess two documents of Yavapai County, Arizona, in order

Federal Plain Language Guidelines (2011) state, “Organization is key. Start by stating the document’s purpose and its bottom line” (p. 7). The purpose of Ordinance No. 2011-1 is clearly stated in section III as, “The purpose of this Ordinance is to protect the public health, safety and welfare by reducing and minimizing the risk of fire dangers, including structural or wildland fires, associated with the use of fireworks in Yavapai County” (Yavapai County Ordinance No. 2011-1, p. 1). The purpose of Ordinance No. 1997-1 is stated in the second introductory paragraph before the sections begin. Therefore, some introductory formatting for Ordinance No. 1997-1 should be revised in order to provide greater readability for

“Plain language is grammatically correct language that includes complete sentence structure and accurate word usage. Plain language is not unprofessional writing or a method of "dumbing down" or "talking down" to the reader” (National Institutes of Health, n.d., para. 1). Unfortunately, both Yavapai County Ordinances No. 1997-1 and No. 2011-1 use words and phrases which are not simple, nor easily understood. The word “shall” is used repeatedly when the word “must” or “will” would be more appropriate. Phrases such as “pursuant to,” “as set forth,” “upon issuance of,” and “be it ordained” are found in both documents when more commonly used phrases should be substituted in order to make the documents more reader-friendly and