AB 2360 directs California state departments and other agencies to improve the readability of the written materials they produce. It adds implementation steps and definitions intended to guide how agencies write, publish, and receive feedback about their documents.
The measure aims to lower comprehension barriers for people who use government services by establishing agency-level policies and internal oversight mechanisms to promote clearer writing and design.
At a Glance
What It Does
The bill expands the existing plain-language requirement to explicitly cover both digital and printed materials, requires each agency to create and publish a plain-language policy on its website, and sets internal responsibilities for implementing those policies.
Who It Affects
All California state departments, commissions, offices, and administrative agencies are covered; communications, legal, and web/IT staff will be the primary implementers; Californians who interact with government forms, contracts, licenses, and guidance will be the end users.
Why It Matters
This standardizes an accessibility-and-clarity expectation across state entities and creates formal accountability inside agencies while leaving agencies to carry out the work using current personnel and budgets.
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What This Bill Actually Does
The bill updates California Government Code Section 6219 to make plain-language obligations more concrete. Agencies must apply understandable writing and coherent design to every document they produce, and the text clarifies that this applies whether a document is printed or posted online.
To make the rule operational, each agency must publish a plain-language policy on its public website explaining how it will use plain-language techniques.
Rather than creating a new state office, the measure assigns implementation duties to agency leadership. Agency heads must name senior staff to oversee the work, explain the requirement to employees, set up an internal compliance process, and identify points of contact for public feedback.
The law expressly constrains these duties to existing personnel and resources, so agencies are expected to repurpose current staff rather than receive new funding or hires.The bill also defines key terms to reduce ambiguity. “Plain language” is spelled out to emphasize clarity for intended audiences and to account for people with disabilities and limited English abilities, while “state agency document” lists common items—contracts, forms, licenses, regulations, manuals, memoranda—and any written communications necessary to carry out the agency’s responsibilities. Those definitions will guide what gets covered by agency policies and internal review.Practically, agencies will need to adopt new or revised style guides, assign responsibility for plain-language review into existing workflows, update websites with posted policies, and create channels to accept and respond to public comments about readability.
Because the bill ties the obligation to current staffing, larger or more complex agencies are likely to reassign or prioritize tasks, while smaller agencies may implement lighter-touch measures. The text does not establish fines or external enforcement; compliance rests with internal oversight structures and public reporting via posted policies and contact points.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill requires each state agency to publish a plain-language policy on its internet website explaining how it will use plain-language writing and design.
Agency heads must designate one or more senior officials to oversee implementation and set up a compliance process, but those duties must be performed within existing personnel and resources.
The law creates a public feedback channel by requiring agencies to designate one or more points of contact to receive and respond to comments about documents that are not easily readable.
The statute defines “plain language” to include wording and structures that improve comprehension for common literacy levels and explicitly mentions individuals with disabilities and limited English proficiency.
“State agency document” is defined broadly to include contracts, forms, licenses, announcements, regulations, manuals, memoranda, and any written communication necessary for an agency to carry out its legal responsibilities.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Plain-language requirement extended to print and digital
This subsection restates and clarifies the baseline duty: every document produced by a state agency must be written in an accessible style. The explicit mention of both digital and printed formats removes any ambiguity that online-only materials were exempt, so web content, downloadable forms, and notices fall squarely within the plain-language obligation.
Agency plain-language policy must be created and posted
Agencies must adopt a written policy describing how they will incorporate plain-language writing and design practices and must post that policy on their public website. Publishing a policy creates a visible standard stakeholders can consult and establishes a basic transparency requirement, even though the bill does not mandate a statewide template or minimum contents for those policies.
Leadership responsibilities and internal compliance
The agency head must take four named actions: appoint senior official(s) to oversee implementation, communicate the plain-language requirement to staff, and establish an ongoing oversight process. These steps put responsibility at the top of the agency while expecting operational details—training, workflow changes, review checkpoints—to be implemented by staff under that leadership structure.
Public points of contact for readability feedback
Within the same personnel constraint, agencies must designate one or more points of contact to receive public input about plain-language implementation or specific documents that are hard to read. That creates an official channel for complaints and suggestions but does not prescribe response deadlines, escalation procedures, or a reporting requirement on how agencies handle that input.
Definitions: plain language, state agency, and covered documents
The statute defines ‘plain language’ to prioritize clarity for intended audiences and explicitly mentions accessibility for people with disabilities and limited English proficiency. It also enumerates examples of covered ‘state agency documents,’ giving agencies concrete touchstones—contracts, forms, licenses, regulations, manuals, and memoranda—while preserving a catch-all for other communications necessary to perform agency duties.
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Explore Government in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- People with limited English proficiency — clearer wording and stated attention to audience comprehension lower barriers to understanding rights, obligations, and services.
- Individuals with disabilities — the definition explicitly links plain language to accessibility, which should improve comprehension when combined with other accessibility tools.
- Small businesses and service providers that interact with state forms and contracts — simpler, clearer documents reduce turnaround time and administrative friction.
- Frontline agency staff who handle public inquiries — better-written materials can reduce repetitive questions and free up staff time for complex cases.
Who Bears the Cost
- State agency communications and legal teams — they will absorb the work of drafting policies, revising documents for plain language, and responding to public feedback within current staffing.
- IT and web teams — posting policies, updating online forms, and redesigning web content for readability will require time and prioritization without guaranteed new funding.
- Agency leadership — responsibility for oversight and compliance rests with senior officials already managing other priorities, creating opportunity costs.
- Legal counsels — simplifying statutory or regulatory text and contracts raises review burdens to balance clarity against legal precision and risk exposure.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The central dilemma is between expanding access through clearer writing and preserving the legal precision and institutional capacity that government operations require: making documents easier to understand benefits users and reduces friction, but doing so well requires time, expertise, and sometimes more staff—resources the bill explicitly declines to provide.
The bill sets a clear expectation that agencies improve readability but constrains implementation to “existing personnel and resources.” That phrase substantially shapes what the law will produce: agencies are directed to act, but the measure does not provide funding, nor does it create a centralized implementation office, training program, or enforcement authority. Expect uneven results across agencies based on size, existing communications capacity, and leadership priorities.
Definitions and procedural gaps create practical questions. The statutory definition of plain language is audience-focused but leaves room for interpretation about how to assess readability in practice (readability metrics, user testing, or required modifications for different audiences).
The public feedback channel is a transparency gain, yet the bill does not require timelines for responses, data collection on comments received, or public reporting of outcomes. Finally, simplifying language in contracts, regulations, and licenses must be balanced against legal precision; agencies and counsel will need to document where plain-language edits change or clarify legal effect to manage litigation and compliance risk.
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