openstates/openstates-scrapers

Description and use

**Summary**
OpenStates Scrapers is a Python‑based open‑source library that harvests legislative data (bills, votes, legislators, etc.) from state government websites and feeds it into the OpenStates platform. With over 900 ★, frequent commits (last update 2026‑07‑08) and a sizable fork network, the project is actively maintained and already used by the OpenStates community.

**Value**
The scrapers give developers a ready‑made, well‑documented pipeline for pulling structured, up‑to‑date state‑level political data without having to write custom parsers for each jurisdiction. Because the codebase follows the OpenStates data model, the output can be dropped directly into downstream analytics, civic‑tech dashboards, or research pipelines that already expect OpenStates‑compatible JSON.

**Practical adoption path**

1. **Read the README** – verify the supported states and required dependencies.
2. **Run a small proof‑of‑concept**: clone the repo, install the Python requirements, and execute a single‑state scraper (e.g., python -m scrapers.run ca).
3. **Integrate**: pipe the generated JSON into your existing data store or ETL process, adjusting only configuration (API keys, storage paths).
4. **Scale**: once the POC is validated, orchestrate multiple scrapers via a task scheduler (Airflow, Prefect) and monitor for changes in source websites.

**Production readiness**
Given its recent activity, strong community adoption (907 ★, 511 forks), and alignment with the OpenStates ecosystem, the project is mature enough for a serious pilot. The primary remaining checks are a formal license review, a quick security audit of dependencies, and confirmation that at least one maintainer is responsive to issues—once those are cleared, the scrapers can be considered production‑ready for ingesting state legislative data at scale.

Use in a workflow

openstates/openstates-scrapers may be useful when its README and activity match a concrete workflow.

Limitations and review notes

High for an OSS candidate: recent activity, adoption, and ecosystem signals are strong enough for a serious pilot.