LegiScan

You can access comprehensive legislative data from all 50 states and Congress through a dedicated MCP server. It streamlines research by offering optimized tools, reduces API usage with composite calls, and provides complete TypeScript typings for all responses along with bill number normalization for formats like AB 858, AB858, and AB-858.

How to use

You interact with this MCP server through a client that supports the Model Context Protocol. Start by configuring a local MCP server instance, then query tools to find legislators, track votes, and explore bills. Use composite tools to batch multiple API calls and minimize requests, which helps you stay within API limits while accelerating your research workflow.

Key workflows you can perform include finding a legislator by name and listing their voting records, locating bills by number across jurisdictions, retrieving detailed bill information, and performing full-text searches across legislation. The composite tools batch related API calls, enabling you to obtain multiple data points in a single request when supported by your client.

How to install

Prerequisites: you need Node.js and npm installed on your machine. Ensure you have access to an API key from LegiScan to authorize data requests.

From npm (recommended): install the MCP server globally so you can run it from anywhere.

npm install -g legiscan-mcp-server

Additional configuration and startup

Configure the MCP server to use your LegiScan API key. You will load this key into the environment for whichever startup method you choose.

Using npx (recommended startup method): set the API key in the environment and start via npx.

Using a local installation: set the API key in the environment and run the built index script.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "legiscan": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "legiscan-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "LEGISCAN_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Notes on API usage and limits

Free public API keys have a 30,000 queries per month limit. Composite tools batch requests with a maximum of 10 concurrent calls to help you stay within rate limits while still accelerating your workflow.

License

MIT - see LICENSE for details.

Available tools

legiscan_find_legislator

Find a legislator's people_id by name, with support for partial matches to locate the correct individual.

legiscan_get_legislator_votes

Get how a legislator voted on multiple bills in a single call.

legiscan_get_primary_authored

Retrieve only bills where the legislator is the primary author (not a co-sponsor).

legiscan_get_bill

Fetch detailed bill information including sponsors, history, votes, and texts.

legiscan_find_bill_by_number

Find a bill by its number, with normalization to formats like AB 858, AB858, AB-858.

legiscan_get_roll_call

Obtain vote details with individual legislator votes for a given bill.

legiscan_get_person

Get legislator information including third-party IDs (e.g., VoteSmart, OpenSecrets).

legiscan_get_session_people

List all legislators active in a specific session.

legiscan_search

Perform a full-text search across legislation to discover relevant bills.

legiscan_get_session_list

List available legislative sessions by state.