Guidance Documents

1. Guidance Documents Administrative Policy Writing Spring 2012

2. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Introduction • Remember earlier this semester we said that administrative agencies have three major functions: • Adopting and enforcing rules, • Administering public services and benefits, and • Providing the public with information. • Our investigation report project was about enforcing rules. • The AirCheck project was about administering services. • This week we are going to discuss the third function: providing the public with information. • We will do this by discussing a type of document used to explain regulations or other law to the public.

3. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Introduction • These documents may have different names. We are going to refer to them as guidance documents. • Today we will discuss how guidance documents explain regulations and we will break down their parts. • We will end today by looking at some examples of real-world guidance documents. • The writing project for this week is to write a short guidance document on a set of regulations. We will also talk about how to tackle this project.

4. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Purpose of Guidance Documents • The purpose of a guidance document is explain a rule or program to the public or regulated community. These documents should be accurate and easy to understand. • Guidance documents begin with the premise that most people don’t want to read regulations or find them difficult to read. • From your own experience in this class, you can understand! • For the average member of the public, navigating and understanding regulations in the TAC or CFR is intimidating and confusing. • Thus, the purpose of these documents is to restate or provide a summary of the regulations in plain English. As mentioned above, there are really two parts to this: • It is important that guidance documents are both easy to understand and are accurate. • “Easy to understand” involves the principles of plain language we have already discussed.

5. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Purpose of Guidance Documents • What does “accurate” mean? • The document should exhaust all of the conditions or situations covered by the rules. • The document should not add anything to the rules. • Unless the agency has determined that further information is necessary to resolve an ambiguity in the rules. • Follow these twin goals in your own writing project.

6. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Guidance Documents as Interpretation • In addition to simply explaining the rules, guidance documents also interpret the rules. • Guidance documents can address ambiguities in a regulation and explain what the agency thinks their regulation means. • In this way, guidance documents serve as an official interpretation of the regulation and provide an important legal function. • Guidance documents may have an important role in legal proceedings in which the meaning of regulations are at issue. • An agency’s interpretation of its own regulations is often important.

7. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Guidance Documents as Interpretation • To give you an idea of why we need guidance documents, let’s look at a hypothetical situation. • The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is responsible for the operation of national wildlife preserves. • The Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is located near Corpus Christi.

8. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Guidance Documents as Interpretation • Suppose the agency adopts the following rule: • Question: What counts as a vehicle? • SUV? • Bike? • Electric wheelchair? • Skateboard? • Golf cart? • The agency may publish a guidance document to clarify its intent in adopting this rule. • Thus, the guidance document may serve an important role in rule interpretation. For the purpose of this rule, the agency may interpret a “vehicle” to include only motorized vehicles. Or maybe anything with wheels.

9. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Parts of a Guidance Document • Guidance documents are generally short guides to a set of regulations on a given topic or activity. • Length: 2-3 pages. But some are much longer, like a manual. • Usually organized by • a series of subject headings or • FAQstyle. • There is no set formula for a guidance document, but many have the following parts: • Title • Introduction • Definitions of terms or acronyms • A series of headings on what the rules require • We will talk about each of these.

10. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Parts of a Guidance Document: Title • The title of a guidance document should explain what the document is about in concise terms. • The title page should also include a letter-head or logo of the agency issuing the regulation. • This shows that it is an official publication of the agency.

11. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Parts of a Guidance Document: Title • The title usually includes a date and number. • The date is important because regulations are always changing. • Guidance documents tend to have a short shelf-life. • The date makes it clear that it is an explanation of regulations in effect on a certain date. • The agency does not want someone to find this document ten years later and think it is still current. • The number “RG-012” provides an easy way to reference the document.

12. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Parts of a Guidance Document: Introduction • The introduction orients the reader to your subject in the first sentence: • “This is a guidance document about scrap tire recycling.” • They also usually contain a disclaimer. This disclaimer is not just bureaucratic jargon. It serves as an important reminder. • The purpose of this disclaimer is to make the role of a guidance document clear. It is not a rule, but the agency’s attempt to explain a rule. • Aguidance document is also not designed to constitute legal advice to a regulated entity.

13. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Number Date Parts of a Guidance Document Introduction

14. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Parts of a Guidance Document: Definitions • Because guidence documents deal with technical information and terms, it is often conveninent to use abbreviations, specialized terms, and acroynms. • But recall from the discussion on plain language and audience that you should always define these terms when the audience is the general public. • You cannot assume that the reader knows what “MSW” or “APAR” means, even if everyone in the industry does. • Guidance documents should be addressed to the general public rather than industry insiders. • What if the reader is new to the industry? • Therefore, these documents may need a section that defines the technical terms or abbreviations used.

15. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Parts of a Guidance Document: Definitions “TCEQ” “PPRW” “UW”

16. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Parts of a Guidance Document: Headings • As previously mentioned, guidance documents are typically organized by a series of subject headings that cover a particular rule or answer a particular question. • The latter is used if the guidance document is written as an “FAQ.” • The first heading usually describes what rules apply to the activity in general and provide an overview of those rules. • Subsequent headings then describe the particular requirements in more detail. • See this organization in the following document about environmental rules for car wash facilities.

18. An overview of the environmental requirements to operate a car wash The specific rules explained in this document

19. Second major subject heading Specific requirements from the regulations written in a plain-language style

20. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Audience for Guidance Documents • As mentioned previously, guidance documents typically have two audiences: • the general public and • the regulated community. • In the previous example, the regulated community would be car wash operators. • Therefore, writers of guidance documents must use the technical language necessary to describe the activities of industry. • But at the same time, avoid confusing jargon. Thus, it is important to assume little knowledge and define terms. • Like the car wash example illustrates, it is also important to give the reader a sense of the big picture: • what are the major steps a car wash operator will have to take in order to comply with environmental rules? • Such information will provide a newcomer to the field with information to get started.

21. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Example Document • Let’s look at some real-world examples. • See the links to the guidance documents in Week 13 of the schedule page. • Read over the OSHA Guide on Operator Qualifications for Cranes and Derricks.

22. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Writing a Guidance Document • Our project for this unit is to write a guidance document. • Your job will be to review a set of regulations and translate that information into a readable document that provides the reader with an explanation of the requirements. • We will be using a question-and-answer format that appears on the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) website. • The TDLR regulates many assorted professions in Texas: • Barbers • Polygraph Examiners • Auctioneers • Etc.

23. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Writing a Guidance Document • Our project concerns regulations related to operating a barber shop. • The TDLR has a question and answer guidance document on their website that explains some of the rules applicable to barbers. • Your job is essentially to add to this document by explaining rules on shop operations. • However, you don’t need to make a website. Turn in your project as a Word document. • Since you are adding to an existing document, you do not need to include the introduction. • Since this is an FAQ, you have to create the questions which the rules answer. (Assume those questions are frequently asked.)

24. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Writing a Guidance Document

25. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 Writing a Guidance Document • Your job is to explain the rules. Explain means translate them into a plain language style. • You can’t simply cut and paste them into your document! • Your explanation must be complete: provide for all conditions and exceptions in the rules. • The assignment will provide you the citations to the rule. You must go to the Texas Administrative Code online to retrieve them. • (Remember, these are rules of the TDLR. That should help you locate them.) • Find a way to organize the information to make it accessible and readable. You should use formatting devices as you see fit, including bullet points, subject headings, or tables. • Copy the general style of the existing FAQ. • Your audience for this document is the general public and professionals.

26. Administrative Policy WritingSpring 2012 We’re Done • Questions? • Comments?