Agencies now adopt language, size, and plain-writing rules to fix participation barriers

Evidence

Government agencies in some areas are beginning to address these obstacles by requiring, for instance, that public notices be of a size large enough to attract public attention, requiring that key government documents be translated into the community’s language, and requiring that supporting permit documents be written in plain language and limit their use of technical terms. — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 1100

Categorization

• XREF: Pays off the Buttonwillow and Kettleman City language-exclusion rulings — the reforms were direct responses to those losses. — connects to: Enforcement discretion makes written rules differ from actual practice — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law: An Introduction, 55; Formal public-notice rules structurally exclude low-literacy communities — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 243; Interpreters should deliberately seek every chance to add participation and demonstration — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 472
• CANDY: Texas now mandates that public notices must be at least fifteen square inches — a small but tweetable regulatory detail.

Broader Connections

• Enforcement discretion makes written rules differ from actual practice #complicates (0.75) — Lawrence M. Friedman and Grant M. Hayden, American Law, 55
• Interpreters should deliberately seek every chance to add participation and demonstration #expands (0.75) — Freeman Tilden, Interpreting Our Heritage, 472
• Formal public-notice rules structurally exclude low-literacy communities #complicates (0.72) — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 243