House Passes Plain Language Bill

April 16, 2008

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the NSBA-endorsed Plain Language in Government Communications Act of 2007 (H.R. 3548) on April 14 by a vote of 376-1. Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) cast the single dissenting vote.

Mandating plain-language in all federally-written letters, forms, notices, or instructions, H.R. 3548 was introduced in September 2007 by Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) with the support of NSBA and 32 bipartisan cosponsors. In a recent NSBA poll, 93 percent of respondents reported having trouble understanding a letter, form, notice, or instructions they received from the federal government.

A companion bill (S. 2291), introduced in November 2007 by Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), was reported out of the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on April 10. It currently has nine, bipartisan co-sponsors: Sens. Thomas Carper (D-Del.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), and George Voinovich (R-Ohio).

At a Feb. 26 House Small Business Subcommittee on Contracting and Technology hearing, NSBA President Todd McCracken and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox testified about the need for plain-language.

“In these economically-uncertain times, Congress must do everything in its power to prevent any unnecessary barriers to entrepreneurship,” stated McCracken. “Every hour and dollar wasted trying to decipher complex federal documents is time and money not being reinvested into the economy.”

Without massive staffs of lawyers and accountants, small-business owners are alone in their struggle to understand confusing and arcane federal lingo. The U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy estimates that companies with fewer than 20 employees pay more than $7,600 per employee to comply with federal regulations each year whereas large firms pay about 45 percent ($2,400) less per employee.

McCracken lauded the legislation and urged Congress to continue addressing this ongoing problem. “While this is a solid first-step, the small-business community overwhelmingly supports—97 percent—requiring all federal regulations to be written in easy-to-understand, plain language.”

Please click here to read the full testimony or click here to view it.