Language of government

The Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times: Asking government agencies to write in plain English is a reasonable request. But it is not easy to arrange such a task, according to the Center for Plain Language.

Last year a law was passed with the intent of compelling government entities to write in language that people can understand. The Plain Writing Act required agencies to communicate clearly in documents that provide information to the public. That effort was supposed to start last October.

The center has evaluated the results in a “report card,” the Associated Press reports. Progress is mixed.

The Agriculture Department scored the highest of a dozen agencies, earning an A for fulfilling the law’s basic requirements and a B for training staff to write clear prose.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is another story, failing in both endeavors.

Sponsor of the law to achieve clarity, Rep. Bruce Braley, D-Iowa, concluded that “we still have a long way to go to make government forms and documents simpler and easier for taxpayers to understand.”

Annetta Cheek, chairwoman of the center, has seen improvements, but “it’s very spotty.”