II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2337 

To require that Federal regulations use plain writing that is clear, concise, 

well-organized, and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject 

or field and intended audience. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 23, 2012 

Mrs. MCCASKILL (for herself, Ms. COLLINS, and Mr. COBURN) introduced the 

following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

A BILL 

To require that Federal regulations use plain writing that 

is clear, concise, well-organized, and follows other best 

practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended 

audience. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Plain Writing Act for 

5 Regulations of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Act is to require that Federal 

8 regulations use plain writing, to enhance public underVerDate Mar 15 2010 05:49 Apr 24, 2012 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2337.IS S2337

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1 standing of regulations, and to increase the level of public 

2 participation in the rulemaking process. 

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means an 

6 Executive agency, as that term is defined in section 

7 105 of title 5, United States Code. 

8 (2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 

9 the Director of the Office of Management and Budg10 et. 

11 (3) PLAIN WRITING.—The term ‘‘plain writing’’ 

12 means writing that is clear, concise, well-organized, 

13 and follows other best practices appropriate to the 

14 subject or field and intended audience. 

15 (4) REGULATION.—The term ‘‘regulation’’ 

16 means a rule, as that term is defined in section 

17 551(4) of title 5, United States Code, that is issued 

18 by an agency. 

19 SEC. 4. RESPONSIBILITIES OF FEDERAL AGENCIES. 

20 (a) PREPARATION FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF PLAIN

21 WRITING REQUIREMENTS FOR REGULATIONS.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 9 months 

23 after the date of enactment of this Act, the head of 

24 each agency shall— 


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1 (A) designate a senior official within the 

2 agency to oversee the implementation of this 

3 Act by the agency; 

4 (B) ensure that the obligation of the agen5 cy to use plain writing in no way diminishes the 

6 ability of the agency to perform scientific anal7 yses or technical analyses, or disclose scientific 

8 data or technical data or any other findings, 

9 that are required to be performed or disclosed 

10 under chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, 

11 or any other provision of law; 

12 (C) communicate the requirements of this 

13 Act to the employees of the agency; 

14 (D) train employees of the agency to write 

15 regulations using plain writing; 

16 (E) establish a process for overseeing the 

17 ongoing compliance of the agency with the re18 quirements of this Act; and 

19 (F) designate an employee of the agency to 

20 serve as a point of contact to receive and re21 spond to public input on— 

22 (i) the implementation of this Act by 

23 the agency; and 

24 (ii) the agency reports required under 

25 section 6. 


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1 (2) INDIVIDUALS DESIGNATED.—The individual 

2 designated under subparagraph (A) or (F) of para3 graph (1) may be the same individual designated to 

4 carry out similar functions under the Plain Writing 

5 Act of 2010 (5 U.S.C. 301 note). 

6 (b) REQUIREMENT TO USE PLAIN WRITING IN NEW

7 AND REVISED REGULATIONS.—Not later than 12 months 

8 after the date of enactment of this Act, each agency shall 

9 use plain writing in accordance with the guidance issued 

10 by the Director under the Plain Writing Act of 2010 (5 

11 U.S.C. 301 note) in each proposed or final regulation 

12 issued or substantially revised by the agency. 

13 (c) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE.—For each pro14 posed or final regulation issued by an agency, the head 

15 of the agency shall certify to the Director that the agency 

16 head has read the proposed or final rule and that the rule17 making documents use plain writing. 

18 (d) EXEMPTION FROM CERTAIN INFORMATION COL19 LECTION PROVISIONS.—An agency action to collect infor20 mation from the public about a regulation is exempt from 

21 the information collection provisions of sections 3506(c) 

22 and 3507 of title 44, United States Code, if the agency 

23 head certifies that the sole reason for the information col24 lection is to improve the clarity of the regulation in accord25 ance with this Act. 


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1 SEC. 5. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE OF2 FICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET. 

3 (a) GUIDANCE.—Not later than 6 months after the 

4 date of enactment of this Act, the Director shall develop 

5 and issue guidance on implementing the requirements of 

6 this Act that ensures that the head of each agency under7 stands that the obligation of the agency to use plain writ8 ing does not in any way diminish the ability of the agency 

9 to perform scientific analyses or technical analyses, or dis10 close scientific data or technical data or any other find11 ings, that are required to be performed or disclosed by 

12 chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, or any other pro13 vision of law. The Director may designate a lead agency, 

14 and may use interagency working groups to assist in devel15 oping and issuing the guidance. 

16 (b) PUBLICATION OF CERTIFICATIONS.—The Direc17 tor shall publish each certification required under section 

18 4(c) on the official website of the Office of Management 

19 and Budget. 

20 SEC. 6. REPORTS. 

21 (a) INITIAL REPORT.—Not later than 9 months after 

22 the date of enactment of this Act, the head of each agency 

23 shall publish on the plain writing section of the website 

24 of the agency created under the Plain Writing Act of 2010 

25 (5 U.S.C. 301 note) a report that describes the agency 

26 plan for compliance with the requirements of this Act. 


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1 (b) ANNUAL COMPLIANCE REPORT.—Not later than 

2 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act, and 

3 annually thereafter, the head of each agency shall publish 

4 on the plain writing section of the website of the agency 

5 a report on the compliance of the agency with the require6 ments of this Act. 

7 (c) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 

8 the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, 

9 the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit 

10 a report to the Committee on Homeland Security and Gov11 ernmental Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 

12 Oversight and Government Reform of the House of Rep13 resentatives that— 

14 (1) evaluates the extent to which regulations 

15 use plain writing, by conducting a survey of different 

16 intended audiences for a representative sample of 

17 major regulations that measures— 

18 (A) the level of comprehension of each re19 spondent for each regulation; and 

20 (B) the satisfaction of each respondent 

21 with the plain writing used in each regulation, 

22 focusing on whether the regulation uses writing 

23 that is clear, concise, well-organized, and fol24 lows other best practices appropriate to the 


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1 subject or field and intended audience of the 

2 regulation; 

3 (2) assesses the extent to which plain writing 

4 helped increase the level of public participation in 

5 the rulemaking process; and 

6 (3) provides recommendations to— 

7 (A) improve compliance with the require8 ments of this Act; and 

9 (B) better use plain writing to enhance 

10 public understanding of regulations and in11 crease public participation in the rulemaking 

12 process. 

13 SEC. 7. JUDICIAL REVIEW AND ENFORCEABILITY. 

14 (a) JUDICIAL REVIEW.—There shall be no judicial re15 view of compliance or noncompliance with any provision 

16 of this Act. 

17 (b) ENFORCEABILITY.—No provision of this Act may 

18 be construed to create any right or benefit, substantive 

19 or procedural, enforceable by any administrative or judi20 cial action. 

Æ 


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