1st Edition

From Black Codes to Recodification Removing the Veil from Regulatory Writing

By Miriam Williams Copyright 2010
    168 Pages
    by Routledge

    159 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book examines Texas regulations from the Texas Black Codes of 1866, some of the most deceptive regulations in Texas history, to contemporary Texas Child Care Licensing regulations, which perhaps symbolize some of the most audience-friendly contemporary regulations in Texas. The author focuses on the contemporary African-American audience, often categorized as distrustful of government. The book can help public policy students understand the complexities of intercultural communication and negotiation in public policy development and implementation.

    CHAPTER I. Introduction: Race, Regulations, and Trust
     Traditional Styles of Regulatory Writing
     Contemporary Arguments for Plain English Regulations
     Organization of Book

    CHAPTER II. Case Study I—Texas Black Codes of 1866: Identifying Discourse Markers of Trust
     Identifying Discourse Markers of Trust
     Discourse Analysis of Texas Black Codes
     Findings of Discourse Analysis

    CHAPTER III. Texas Laws and Tacit Laws: Redefining Black Labor from "The Nadir" to Civil Rights
     Redefining Apprenticeship and Contract Labor
     Rationale for Contemporary Studies

    CHAPTER IV. Case Study II—Texas Agencies: The Challenge of Evoking Trust
     Contextual Inquiry Meeting at State Agency
     Artifacts Collected during Contextual Inquiry Study
     Process Meeting with Group of Policy Writers
     Analysis of Regulatory Writing Tasks

    CHAPTER V. Case Study III—Contemporary Black Business Owners: Legalese, Plain English, or Both?
     The Focus Group in Context

    CHAPTER VI. An Invention Heuristic for Regulatory Writing
     Implications of Contextual Inquiry and Focus Group Studies
     What Information Do New Policy Writers Need to Know?
     What Style Meets the Needs of the Government Agency and the Public?
     A Rulemaking Heuristic to Evoke Trust in Distrustful Audiences
     Considerations for the Future of Regulatory Writing

    APPENDICES
     Appendix I: Texas Black Codes in Legalese and Plain English
     Appendix II: Rhetorical Analysis of Texas Black Codes in Legalese and Plain English
     Appendix III: Contextual Inquiry Transcript
     Appendix IV: The Focus Group Meeting

    REFERENCES

    INDEX

    Biography

    Miriam F. Williams