External Data Integration

Connect to state legislative APIs for automated bill text collection

OpenStates API - Bulk Bill Text Import

Automatically fetch full bill texts for all bills in your database

Connected

How it works:

• Scans your database for bills without full text
• Searches OpenStates API for each bill by number and state
• Downloads the most recent bill version text
• Updates your database with the full bill text
• Respects API rate limits (processes ~1 bill every 2 seconds)

💡 Pro Tip

After importing bill texts, visit the Textual Similarity Analysis page to compare bills and identify policy diffusion patterns. Bills with full text will show a green indicator and provide much more accurate similarity scores.

About OpenStates API

Open-source legislative data with comprehensive coverage

Coverage: All 50 states plus DC, Puerto Rico, and US Congress

Data: Bill text, sponsors, actions, votes, and legislative history

Rate Limits: Free tier allows 1,000 requests per day

Documentation: docs.openstates.org/api-v3