Plain Writing Act: Initial Report
I. Senior Agency Official for Plain Writing:
Eric E. Wachter
Director
Office of the Executive Secretariat
wachter.eric@epa.gov
(202) 564-7960
II. Inform agency staff of Plain Writing Act's requirements:
- General Counsel Scott Fulton issued a memorandum to all employees informing them of the requirements of the Act. The memorandum was emailed agencywide.
- The Plain Writing Act website is linked to the agency's Intranet.
- A section on plain writing was been included in EPA's Correspondence Manual, which prescribes specific standards and formats for the preparation of official agency correspondence.
III. Training
- EPA has an online training for all employees who produce documents for the public and for any employee who would like to be trained in plain writing.
- EPA is planning classroom workshops and training sessions for interested employees.
IV. Ongoing compliance/sustaining change
- Each national-program and regional office will appoint a designated official for plain writing.
- With institutional knowledge of the unique processes and various documents produced in their offices, these designate officials will devise and implement processes for ongoing compliance.
- The senior official for plain writing and the designated officials will meet regularly to oversee compliance.