Define Dataset: Legislative Data (Government Accountability and Democracy)

[emily878]

Define the essential substantive elements of the core "Legislative Data" dataset. What are the components that it must minimally include? IDo we have a dataset that we could hold up as a model? (Calling @paultag...)

[waldoj]

I don't know what we should be doing with legislative websites that don't provide any actual data. I guess we should assess them anyway, noting that they exist, etc., etc., but that the data isn't machine-readable.

For lack of Open States guidance, here's how I'm defining the core elements.

Legislators

• ID
• name
• chamber (if extant—I'm looking at you, Nebraska)
• party
• district identifier
• date sworn in

Legislation

• session
• bill number
• bill patron(s)
• bill catch line (if extant)
• bill summary (if extant)
• bill text
• bill status

There's a lot more that I'd like (vote data, committee/subcommittee dockets, a lot more legislator data points, bill histories, etc.), but I think this is a reasonable minimum model.