Plain Language for Government -- We've been waiting for this!

This is good news: The U.S. House passed Representative Bruce Braley's bill -- H.R. 3548, the Plain Language in Government Communications Act of 2007, on the day before Tax Day -- April 15. Click here to see examples of how this bill would make government writing easier to understand.

So first, kudos!! to Mr. Braley (D IA-4). The bill's passage in the House is a welcome step forward for those of us who hate filling out government forms, often all too full of "gobbledygook". Assuming the bill is signed into law, the Plain Language in Government Communications Act will require the federal government to write new publications, forms, and publicly distributed documents in a “clear, concise, well-organized” manner that follows the best practices of plain language writing.

Braley hopes that his bill will make it, "... Easier for Americans and small businesses to work with and understand their government. "

At My Rural America, we hope the IRS will lead the way in simplifying its forms first and then, some day, we hope that the health insurance companies will be required to follow suit. We also laughed when we read that Mr. Braley had said he, "Hoped in some small way, the bill (would) honor the memory of our former colleague, Maury Maverick, Sr., who served two terms in the House from 1935-1939." It turns out that Congressman Maverick invented the term “gobbledygook” to describe bureaucratic language that was as difficult to understand as the call of wild turkeys from his native South Texas.