I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 4809 
To amend the provisions of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, 
commonly referred to as the Paperwork Reduction Act, to ensure 
usability and clarity of information disseminated by Federal agencies, 
and to facilitate compliance with Federal paperwork requirements. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 28, 2006 
Mrs. MILLER of Michigan (for herself and Mr. LYNCH) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Government Reform 
A BILL 
To amend the provisions of chapter 35 of title 44, United 
States Code, commonly referred to as the Paperwork 
Reduction Act, to ensure usability and clarity of informa-
tion disseminated by Federal agencies, and to facilitate 
compliance with Federal paperwork requirements. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Regulation in Plain 
Language Act of 2006’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act:
(1) AGENCY.—The term ‘‘agency’’ means an 
Executive agency, as that term is defined in section 
105 of title 5, United States Code. 
(2) 
REGULATION.—The 
term 
‘‘regulation’’ 
means a rule, as that term is defined in section 
551(4) of title 5, United States Code, that is issued 
by an agency. 
SEC. 3. PROCEDURES FOR ENSURING USABILITY AND 
CLARITY IN RULEMAKING. 
(a) DEFINITION
OF
PLAIN
LANGUAGE.—Section 
3502 of title 44, United States Code, is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 
(13); 
(2) by striking the period and inserting ‘‘; and’’ 
at the end of paragraph (14); and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(15) the term ‘plain language’ means language 
that is clear and readily understandable to the in-
tended reader and complies with the following stand-
ards: 
‘‘(A) Uses short words, sentences, and 
paragraphs. 
‘‘(B) Uses active verbs.
‘‘(C) Contains explanations of legal, for-
eign, and technical terms, unless the terms are 
commonly understood. 
‘‘(D) Avoids defining terms that are com-
monly understood. 
‘‘(E) Uses personal pronouns to refer to 
affected persons and the responsible agency if 
helpful to improve clarity. 
‘‘(F) Minimizes cross-references. 
‘‘(G) Avoids sentences with double nega-
tives or exceptions to exceptions. 
‘‘(H) Uses tables, diagrams, pictures, 
maps, and vertical lists to improve clarity. 
‘‘(I) Demonstrates logical organization. 
‘‘(J) Addresses separate audiences sepa-
rately. 
‘‘(K) Places general material before excep-
tions and specialized information. 
‘‘(L) Addresses processes covered by a rule 
in chronological order. 
‘‘(M) Follows other best practices of plain 
language writing.’’. 
(b) RESPONSIBILITY
OF FEDERAL AGENCIES
TO 
PROMOTE PLAIN LANGUAGE.—Section 3506(d) of title 
44, United States Code, is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 
(3); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(5) ensure that regulations are written in 
plain, understandable language consistent with the 
definition of ‘plain language’ in section 3502(15) of 
this title, through— 
‘‘(A) designating an agency official as 
plain language coordinator; 
‘‘(B) establishing a process for reviewing 
each regulation to ensure its compliance with 
this paragraph before publishing it in the Fed-
eral Register; 
‘‘(C) publishing guidelines to implement 
this paragraph— 
‘‘(i) not later than 120 days after the 
date of the enactment of this paragraph; 
‘‘(ii) after consulting with other Fed-
eral agencies and the Interagency Com-
mittee on Government Information to pro-
mote consistency of application between 
agencies; and
‘‘(iii) after consulting with affected 
stakeholders; 
‘‘(D) training employees who write regula-
tions to write in plain language; 
‘‘(E) reporting to the Committee on Gov-
ernment Reform of the House of Representa-
tives and the Committee on Homeland Security 
and Governmental Affairs of the Senate annu-
ally for the first 2 years after the date of the 
enactment of this paragraph and once every 3 
years thereafter on compliance with this para-
graph, including— 
‘‘(i) agency implementation of its 
guidelines; 
‘‘(ii) agency actions to ensure consist-
ency with other Federal agency guidelines; 
and 
‘‘(iii) examples of some of the changes 
made to draft regulations in the previous 
year to conform with this paragraph.’’. 
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