Root Nodes

As seen in the introduction, when constructing a query you will start your query at one (or more) root nodes. The following root nodes are available:

jurisdictions

Get a list of all jurisdictions.

This will return a list of JurisdictionNode objects, one for each state (plus Puerto Rico and DC).

Pagination: This endpoint accepts the usual pagination parameters, but pagination is not required.

people

Get a list of all people matching certain criteria.

This will return a list of PersonNode objects, one for each person matching your query.

Pagination: This endpoint accepts the usual pagination parameters, and you must limit your results to no more than 100 using either the "first" or "last" parameter.

Parameters

name

Limit response to people who's name contains the provided string.

Includes partial matches & case-insensitive matches.

memberOf

Limit response to people that have a currently active membership record for an organization. The value passed to memberOf can be an ocd-organization ID or a name (e.g. 'Republican' or 'Nebraska Legislature').

everMemberOf

Limit response to people that have any recorded membership record for an organization. Operates as a superset of memberOf.

Specifying memberOf and everMemberOf in the same query is invalid.

district

When specifying either memberOf or everMemberOf, limits to people who's membership represented the district with a given label. (e.g. memberOf: "Nebraska Legislature", district: "7")

Specifying district without memberOf or everMemberOf is invalid.

latitude and longitude

Limit to people that are currently representing the district(s) containing the point specified by the provided coordinates.

Must be specified together.

bills

Get a list of all bills matching certain criteria.

This will return a list of BillNode objects, one for each person matching your query.

Pagination: This endpoint accepts the usual pagination parameters, and you must limit your results to no more than 100 using either the "first" or "last" parameter.

Parameters

jurisdiction

Limit to bills associated with given jurisdiction, parameter can either be a human-readable jurisdiction name or an ocd-jurisdiction ID.

chamber

Limit to bills originating in a given chamber. (e.g. upper, lower, legislature)

session

Limit to bills originating in a given legislative session. This parameter should be the desired session's identifier. (See LegislativeSessionNode).

classification

Limit to bills with a given classification (e.g. "bill" or "resolution")

subject

Limit to bills with a given subject (e.g. "Agriculture")

searchQuery

Limit to bills that contain a given term. (Experimental until 2020!)

updatedSince

Limit to bills that have had data updated since a given time (UTC).

Time should be in the format YYYY-MM-DD[THH:MM:SS].

actionsSince

Limit to bills that have had actions since a given time (UTC).

Time should be in the format YYYY-MM-DD.

jurisdiction

Look up a single jurisdiction by name or ID.

This will return a single JurisdictionNode object with the provided name or ID parameter.

Parameters

name

The human-readable name of the jurisdiction, such as 'New Hampshire'.

id

The ocd-jurisdiction ID of the desired jurisdiction, such as 'ocd-jurisdiction/country:us/state:nh'.

You are required to provide one of the two available parameters.

person

Look up a single person by ocd-person ID.

This will return a single PersonNode by ID.

Parameters

id

ocd-person ID for the desired individual.

organization

Look up a single organization by ocd-organization ID.

This will return a single OrganizationNode by ID.

Parameters

id

ocd-organization ID for the desired individual.

bill

Look up a single bill by ID, URL, or (jurisdiction, session, identifier) combo.

This will return a single BillNode object with the specified bill.

Parameters

id

The ocd-bill ID of the desired bill, such as 'ocd-jurisdiction/country:us/state:nh'.

openstatesUrl

The URL of the desired bill, such as 'https://openstates.org/nc/bills/2019/HB760/'.

jurisdiction, session, identifier

Must be specified together to fully identify a bill.

As is true elsewhere, jurisdiction may be specified by name (New Hampshire) or ocd-jurisdiction ID (ocd-jurisdiction/country:us/state:nh).

Session is specified by legislative session identifier (e.g. 2018 or 49).

Identifier is the exact identifier of the desired bill, such as "HB 327".

You are required to provide one either id or the other parameters to fully specify a bill. Use bills if you are looking for something more broad.