In the first few hours of the 115^th Congress, U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-03) introduced legislation that would require agencies to create a plain language summary of proposed rules to provide more transparency and clarity.

“It’s a new year and a new Congress and it’s time for the old ways of government agencies to be updated and changed,” Luetkemeyer said. “The intent of my legislation is simple: it would require that a short, plain language summary of any proposed rule from a government agency be made available to the American people. It’s simply nonsense that government agencies write rules and regulations that are so long-winded that only subject-matter experts can make sense of them. The American people deserve to be informed in plain language about the rules and regulations being proposed by their government.”

“If any American would open the Federal Register to read the thousands of proposed agency regulations, they would see little but legalese and arcane language that is almost impossible to understand,” Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte said. “Rep. Luetkemeyer’s bill allows any citizen to look at a plain, online statement of a proposed regulation’s purpose and understand exactly what the proposed regulation would do and how it might impact their daily lives. A better understanding of proposed regulations will allow us a better understanding of how we can avoid runaway regulation."

The legislation, the Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act, would require each government agency, in providing notice of a rule making, to include a link to a 100 word plain language summary of the proposed rule.

In the 114^th Congress, Luetkemeyer’s legislation passed in the House of Representatives. This legislation is also included in the Constitution section of the Better Way agenda as it ensure the government upholds what is written in the Constitution and that it works for Americans.