by Thomas Morris

Open your statute book to any statutory section and you’re likely to find a sentence something like the following: “The fine shall be imposed by the court and shall be in the amount of one hundred dollars.” While it is in English, some may not consider it “plain” English. Starting with the bills drafted for the 2012 legislative session, the OLLS will focus more on using active voice and present tense and on correctly using authority verbs when drafting bills. (more…)