Creating Legislative Tracking Maps

Learn how to download state legislation data and create choropleth maps showing legislative activity across multiple social issues.

🎯 What You'll Create

Interactive maps similar to legislative tracking visualizations that show:

• Type of Legislation: Outright Ban, Restriction, Protection
• Status: Introduced (pending), Enacted (passed), Failed (defeated)
• Geographic Distribution: State-by-state view of legislative activity

Example use cases:

• Water fluoridation legislation tracker
• Abortion access legislation map
• Marijuana legalization progress
• Voting rights legislation
• LGBTQ+ protection laws
• Education policy (CRT, book bans, etc.)

---

🛠️ Prerequisites

Choose Your Data Source

⚡ RECOMMENDED: Bulk Downloads (Faster & Easier)

Plural Policy offers bulk downloads of ALL state legislation - no API key needed!

# Download all 2024 legislation for all 50 states (CSV)
python scripts/bulk_legislative_download.py --year 2024 --format csv --merge

# Output: data/cache/legislation_bulk/all_states_2024.csv
# Contains: ALL bills from ALL states in one file!

Advantages:

• ✅ No API key required - Public bulk data
• ✅ No rate limits - Download encouraged
• ✅ Faster - One download vs thousands of API calls
• ✅ Complete - Entire legislative sessions
• ✅ Offline - Process locally without internet

Alternative: Open States API (Real-time)

For real-time bill tracking and search:

# Sign up: https://openstates.org/accounts/signup/
# Add to .env:
OPENSTATES_API_KEY=your-key-here

Use API when you need:

• Latest bill status (same-day updates)
• Search by specific keywords
• Subset of bills (not entire sessions)

---

1. Install Required Packages

# Core dependencies
pip install httpx pandas loguru python-dotenv

# Visualization libraries
pip install plotly matplotlib

2. Get Open States API Key (Free)

Open States provides state legislation data for all 50 states.

1. Sign up: https://openstates.org/accounts/signup/
2. Get API key: https://openstates.org/accounts/profile/
3. Add to .env:

   OPENSTATES_API_KEY=your-key-here

Free Tier:

• 50,000 requests per month
• Access to all 50 states
• Bill text, voting records, legislators

---

📊 Quick Start

Method 1: Bulk Download (Recommended)

Step 1: Download all 2024 legislation

# Download CSV files for all 50 states
python scripts/bulk_legislative_download.py --year 2024 --format csv --merge

Step 2: Process and categorize

from scripts.legislative_tracker import LegislativeTracker
import pandas as pd

tracker = LegislativeTracker()

# Load bulk downloaded data
df = pd.read_csv('data/cache/legislation_bulk/all_states_2024.csv')

# Categorize bills for fluoridation tracking
categorized = []
for _, bill in df.iterrows():
    cat = tracker.categorize_bill(bill.to_dict(), 'fluoridation')
    categorized.append(cat)

df_categorized = pd.DataFrame(categorized)

# Generate map
tracker.create_choropleth_map(df_categorized, "fluoridation")

Output:

• Downloaded: All 50 states in minutes (not hours)
• Processed: Categorized by issue type
• Map: data/visualizations/fluoridation_map.html

---

Method 2: Open States API (Real-time)

Step 1: Get API key

# Sign up at https://openstates.org/accounts/signup/
# Add to .env:
OPENSTATES_API_KEY=your-key-here

Step 2: Track issue

# Track fluoridation legislation in 2024
python scripts/legislative_tracker.py \
  --issue fluoridation \
  --year 2024 \
  --visualize

Output:

• data/cache/legislation/fluoridation_2024.csv - Raw bill data
• data/visualizations/fluoridation_map.html - Interactive map
• data/visualizations/fluoridation_legend.png - Color legend

Track Multiple Issues

from scripts.legislative_tracker import LegislativeTracker
import asyncio

async def track_all_issues():
    tracker = LegislativeTracker()
    
    issues = ["fluoridation", "abortion", "marijuana", "voting", "lgbtq", "education"]
    
    for issue in issues:
        print(f"\n📊 Tracking {issue} legislation...")
        df = await tracker.track_issue(issue, year=2024)
        tracker.create_choropleth_map(df, issue)
        print(f"✅ {issue}: {len(df)} bills tracked")

asyncio.run(track_all_issues())

---

🔍 How It Works

1. Data Collection (Open States API)

The LegislativeTracker class searches Open States API for bills matching issue keywords:

tracker = LegislativeTracker()

# Search for fluoridation bills in all states
bills = await tracker.search_bills("fluoridation", year=2024)

# Returns bill metadata:
# - Title, summary, bill number
# - State, session, sponsors
# - Actions, votes, committee assignments

2. Bill Categorization

Each bill is categorized by type and status:

Bill Types

Determined by keyword matching in title/summary:

Type	Keywords	Example
Ban	"prohibit", "ban", "criminalize"	"Prohibit Water Fluoridation Act"
Restriction	"limit", "restrict", "regulate", "parental consent"	"Fluoride Disclosure Requirements"
Protection	"require", "mandate", "protect", "expand"	"Community Water Fluoridation Mandate"

Bill Status

Determined by latest legislative action:

Status	Action Keywords	Meaning
Enacted	"signed", "enacted", "passed", "approved"	Bill became law
Introduced	"introduced", "referred", "committee"	Bill is pending
Failed	"failed", "defeated", "vetoed", "withdrawn"	Bill did not pass

Categorization Logic:

def categorize_bill(bill, issue):
    text = f"{bill['title']} {bill['summary']}".lower()
    
    # Check for ban keywords
    if any(kw in text for kw in ["prohibit fluoride", "ban fluoridation"]):
        bill_type = "ban"
    # Check for restriction keywords
    elif any(kw in text for kw in ["restrict fluoride", "limit fluoridation"]):
        bill_type = "restriction"
    # Check for protection keywords
    elif any(kw in text for kw in ["require fluoride", "mandate fluoridation"]):
        bill_type = "protection"
    
    return bill_type

3. State-Level Aggregation

Bills are grouped by state to determine:

• Dominant legislation type (ban/restriction/protection)
• Dominant status (enacted/introduced/failed)
• Bill counts per category

# Example state summary
{
  "state_code": "AL",
  "dominant_type": "ban",
  "dominant_status": "introduced",
  "total_bills": 3,
  "ban_count": 2,
  "restriction_count": 1,
  "protection_count": 0
}

4. Map Visualization

Color Coding:

Color	Bill Type	Status	Example
🟤 Dark Brown	Ban	Enacted	Fluoridation ban passed into law
🟠 Orange	Ban	Introduced	Fluoridation ban pending
🟡 Light Yellow	Ban	Failed	Fluoridation ban defeated
🟨 Goldenrod	Restriction	Enacted	Disclosure law passed
💛 Gold	Restriction	Introduced	Restriction pending
🟡 Pale Yellow	Restriction	Failed	Restriction defeated
🔵 Dark Blue	Protection	Enacted	Fluoridation mandate passed
🔷 Royal Blue	Protection	Introduced	Protection bill pending
☁️ Sky Blue	Protection	Failed	Protection defeated

Visual Patterns:

• Solid colors = bills passed into law
• Lighter shades = bills introduced but pending
• Palest shades = bills failed/defeated

---

📈 Example: Fluoridation Legislation Map

Step 1: Search for Bills

import asyncio
from scripts.legislative_tracker import LegislativeTracker

async def main():
    tracker = LegislativeTracker()
    
    # Track fluoridation bills in 2024
    df = await tracker.track_issue("fluoridation", year=2024)
    
    # View results
    print(df[['state_code', 'title', 'type', 'status']])

asyncio.run(main())

Output:

state_code  title                              type        status
AL          Prohibit Water Fluoridation        ban         introduced
CA          Community Fluoridation Mandate     protection  enacted
TX          Fluoride Disclosure Requirements   restriction introduced

Step 2: Generate Map

# Create interactive choropleth map
tracker.create_choropleth_map(df, "fluoridation")

Output: data/visualizations/fluoridation_map.html

Step 3: View Map

Open fluoridation_map.html in a browser to see:

• Color-coded states by legislation type/status
• Hover over states for bill details
• Interactive zoom and pan
• Legend showing color meanings

---

🎨 Customizing Issue Keywords

Add your own issue keywords to track new topics:

tracker = LegislativeTracker()

# Add custom issue keywords
tracker.issue_keywords["gun_control"] = {
    "ban": ["ban assault weapons", "prohibit firearms", "gun ban"],
    "restriction": ["background check", "waiting period", "permit requirement"],
    "protection": ["constitutional carry", "second amendment protection", "gun rights"]
}

# Track the new issue
df = await tracker.track_issue("gun_control", year=2024)

---

📊 Data Sources

Plural Policy Bulk Downloads ⭐ Recommended

What it provides:

• Complete legislative sessions - All bills, votes, sponsors
• CSV format - Easy to process with pandas
• JSON format - Includes full bill text
• PostgreSQL dumps - Entire database (monthly snapshots)
• No rate limits - Bulk downloads encouraged
• No API key - Public domain data

Coverage:

• ✅ All 50 states + DC, PR
• ✅ Historical sessions (2010+)
• ✅ Current sessions (monthly updates)
• ✅ Complete bill lifecycle

Bulk Download URLs:

• CSV per session: https://data.openstates.org/session/csv/{state}/{session_id}.csv
• JSON per session: https://data.openstates.org/session/json/{state}/{session_id}.json.zip
• PostgreSQL dump: https://data.openstates.org/postgres/monthly/YYYY-MM-public.pgdump
• Documentation: https://open.pluralpolicy.com/data/

Download Options:

# Option 1: All states as CSV (fast, ~500MB total)
python scripts/bulk_legislative_download.py --year 2024 --format csv --merge

# Option 2: Specific states as JSON (includes full text)
python scripts/bulk_legislative_download.py --year 2024 --states CA,TX,NY --format json

# Option 3: PostgreSQL dump (complete database, ~5GB)
python scripts/bulk_legislative_download.py --postgres --month 2026-04

Why use bulk downloads?

Feature	Bulk Download	API
Speed	✅ Minutes for all states	❌ Hours (50K API calls)
Rate Limits	✅ None	⚠️ 50K/month
API Key	✅ Not required	❌ Required
Offline	✅ Process locally	❌ Needs internet
Complete Sessions	✅ All bills at once	⚠️ Must paginate
Real-time	⚠️ Monthly updates	✅ Same-day updates

Recommendation: Use bulk downloads for historical analysis and map generation. Use API for real-time bill tracking.

---

Open States API (Real-time Updates)

What it provides:

• 100,000+ state bills from all 50 states
• Bill text, summaries, sponsors
• Legislative actions and votes
• Committee assignments
• Real-time updates

Coverage:

• ✅ All 50 states + DC, PR, territories
• ✅ Current and historical sessions
• ✅ Multiple bill types (HB, SB, HR, SR, etc.)
• ✅ Standardized OCD-ID format

API Documentation: https://docs.openstates.org/api-v3/

Free Tier:

• 50,000 requests/month
• No credit card required
• Commercial and non-commercial use

Ballotpedia (Optional)

For ballot measures and referendums (not just legislation):

from discovery.ballotpedia_integration import BallotpediaDiscovery

discovery = BallotpediaDiscovery()
measures = await discovery.get_ballot_measures("Alabama", year=2024)

Note: Ballotpedia API is paid. Web scraping fallback available.

---

🗂️ Output Files

CSV Data Files

Location: data/cache/legislation/{issue}_{year}.csv

Columns:

• bill_id - State bill number (e.g., "HB 123")
• state - State name (e.g., "Alabama")
• state_code - Two-letter code (e.g., "AL")
• title - Bill title
• type - Categorization (ban/restriction/protection)
• status - Legislative status (introduced/enacted/failed)
• url - Open States bill page URL
• session - Legislative session
• latest_action - Most recent action
• latest_action_date - Date of action

Example:

bill_id,state,state_code,title,type,status,url
HB 123,Alabama,AL,Prohibit Water Fluoridation,ban,introduced,https://openstates.org/al/bills/2024/HB123/
SB 456,California,CA,Community Fluoridation Mandate,protection,enacted,https://openstates.org/ca/bills/2024/SB456/

HTML Map Files

Location: data/visualizations/{issue}_map.html

Features:

• Interactive choropleth map
• Hover tooltips with bill details
• Zoom/pan controls
• Responsive design
• Embeddable in websites

Legend Images

Location: data/visualizations/{issue}_legend.png

Contains:

• Color key for bill types
• Status indicators
• Pattern explanations

---

🔧 Advanced Usage

Track Specific States Only

# Track only southern states
southern_states = ["AL", "AR", "FL", "GA", "KY", "LA", "MS", "NC", "SC", "TN", "TX", "VA", "WV"]

df = await tracker.track_issue("fluoridation", year=2024, states=southern_states)

Multi-Year Trends

import pandas as pd

dfs = []
for year in range(2020, 2025):
    df = await tracker.track_issue("fluoridation", year=year)
    df['year'] = year
    dfs.append(df)

# Combine all years
all_years = pd.concat(dfs, ignore_index=True)

# Analyze trends
trend = all_years.groupby(['year', 'type']).size().reset_index(name='count')
print(trend)

Output:

year  type         count
2020  ban          12
2020  restriction   8
2020  protection    5
2021  ban          15
2021  restriction  10
...

Export for Further Analysis

# Export to Excel with multiple sheets
with pd.ExcelWriter('fluoridation_analysis.xlsx') as writer:
    df.to_excel(writer, sheet_name='All Bills', index=False)
    
    # Summary by state
    state_summary = tracker.generate_state_summary(df)
    state_summary.to_excel(writer, sheet_name='State Summary', index=False)
    
    # Enacted bills only
    enacted = df[df['status'] == 'enacted']
    enacted.to_excel(writer, sheet_name='Enacted Bills', index=False)

---

🎯 Use Cases

1. Advocacy Campaign Planning

Goal: Identify states with active legislation for targeted campaigns

# Find states with pending ban legislation
df = await tracker.track_issue("fluoridation", year=2024)
pending_bans = df[(df['type'] == 'ban') & (df['status'] == 'introduced')]

print(f"States with pending fluoridation bans: {pending_bans['state_code'].unique()}")
# Output: ['AL', 'TX', 'FL', ...]

Use for:

• Email campaigns to state legislators
• Social media targeting by state
• Coalition building in key states

2. Policy Research

Goal: Track legislative trends over time

# Compare ban vs protection bills over 5 years
for year in range(2020, 2025):
    df = await tracker.track_issue("fluoridation", year=year)
    
    bans = len(df[df['type'] == 'ban'])
    protections = len(df[df['type'] == 'protection'])
    
    print(f"{year}: {bans} bans, {protections} protections")

3. Media and Journalism

Goal: Create data-driven stories on legislative activity

# Generate map for publication
df = await tracker.track_issue("fluoridation", year=2024)
tracker.create_choropleth_map(df, "fluoridation", output_file="public/fluoride_map.html")

# Embed in article with <iframe>

4. Academic Research

Goal: Analyze correlation between legislation and demographics

# Merge with Census data
import geopandas as gpd

df = await tracker.track_issue("fluoridation", year=2024)
state_summary = tracker.generate_state_summary(df)

# Join with state-level Census data
census = pd.read_csv("census_state_demographics.csv")
merged = state_summary.merge(census, on='state_code')

# Analyze correlations
correlation = merged[['ban_count', 'median_income', 'college_educated_pct']].corr()

---

🚀 Next Steps

Integrate with Knowledge Graph

Add legislation to the jurisdiction knowledge graph:

from neo4j import GraphDatabase

driver = GraphDatabase.driver("bolt://localhost:7687")

with driver.session() as session:
    for _, bill in df.iterrows():
        session.run("""
            MATCH (j:Jurisdiction {state_code: $state_code})
            CREATE (b:Bill {
                bill_id: $bill_id,
                title: $title,
                type: $type,
                status: $status,
                url: $url
            })
            CREATE (j)-[:HAS_LEGISLATION]->(b)
        """, bill.to_dict())

Add to Dashboard

Embed map in React frontend:

// frontend/src/pages/LegislationTracker.tsx
import React from 'react';

export function LegislationMap({ issue }: { issue: string }) {
  return (
    <iframe
      src={`/data/visualizations/${issue}_map.html`}
      width="100%"
      height="600px"
      frameBorder="0"
    />
  );
}

Automate Daily Updates

Create cron job to update data:

# crontab -e
# Run daily at 6am
0 6 * * * cd /path/to/project && python scripts/legislative_tracker.py --issue fluoridation --year 2024 --visualize

---

📚 Related Documentation

• Open States API Documentation
• Ballotpedia Integration
• Data Model ERD
• Jurisdiction Discovery

---

❓ Troubleshooting

Error: "OPENSTATES_API_KEY not found"

Solution: Add API key to .env:

OPENSTATES_API_KEY=your-key-here

Error: "Plotly not installed"

Solution: Install visualization libraries:

pip install plotly matplotlib

Error: "No bills found for issue"

Possible causes:

1. Issue keyword too specific - Broaden search terms
2. No legislation in that year - Try different year
3. API quota exceeded - Wait for next month or upgrade

Solution: Customize keywords:

tracker.issue_keywords["fluoridation"]["ban"].append("anti-fluoride")

Map shows no data

Check:

1. CSV file was created: data/cache/legislation/{issue}_{year}.csv
2. CSV has rows with state_code values
3. Categorization logic matched bills correctly

---

💡 Tips & Best Practices

1. Start broad, then refine - Use general keywords first, then add specific terms
2. Cache aggressively - API calls are rate-limited, save results locally
3. Update regularly - Legislation changes daily during session
4. Verify categorization - Review sample bills to ensure accuracy
5. Document keywords - Keep track of which keywords work best
6. Share visualizations - Export maps as images for social media

---

🎨 Color Scheme Reference

Default Colors (Customizable)

color_map = {
    ('ban', 'enacted'): '#D2691E',       # Brown
    ('ban', 'introduced'): '#FFA500',    # Orange
    ('ban', 'failed'): '#FFE4B5',        # Moccasin
    ('restriction', 'enacted'): '#DAA520',  # Goldenrod
    ('restriction', 'introduced'): '#FFD700', # Gold
    ('restriction', 'failed'): '#FFFFE0',    # Light Yellow
    ('protection', 'enacted'): '#00008B',    # Dark Blue
    ('protection', 'introduced'): '#4169E1', # Royal Blue
    ('protection', 'failed'): '#87CEEB',     # Sky Blue
}

Custom Color Scheme

# Update colors for your brand
tracker.color_map = {
    ('ban', 'enacted'): '#FF0000',  # Red for enacted bans
    ('protection', 'enacted'): '#00FF00',  # Green for enacted protections
}