Main Concepts

The main concepts are defined below:

Jurisdiction

Essentially just another word for “State” in our context. (Includes DC and Puerto Rico.)

Session (aka LegislativeSession)

A period of time in a legislature where the same members serve together, typically punctuated by elections. All bills in a session will be uniquely numbered. (e.g. HB 1 in the 2017 session is typically not the same bill as in the 2019 session)

Bill

Represents all types of legislation whether it is a bill, resolution, etc.

Vote (aka VoteEvent)

A vote among members of the legislature, typically an entire chamber but can also be a committee vote.

Person (aka Legislator)

Any person that is associated with the legislature.

Organization

A generic term used to represent a few different concepts: legislatures, chambers, committees, and political parties.

Post

A particular role within an organization, typically used to represent a seat in the legislature. (e.g. the District 4 post in the North Carolina Senate Organization)

Membership

Ties a Person to a Post for a duration of time.

You’ll notice these concepts mostly correspond to the v2 GraphQL Root Nodes.