Open States API v3 & 2021 Plans

API v3 is here!

Back in September, I announced the beta of Open States API v3 and as of today it is moving from beta status to fully supported. Since the initial release there have been quite a few updates, all noted in the changelog.

While API v3 will continue to improve, it has been moved to production servers, backwards-incompatible changes will be kept to a minimum and announced well in advance, and rate limits are a bit higher than they were during the beta accordingly.

For more details on API v3:


Thanks to FastAPI we have complete interactive API Documentation - try it out!


API v1 is going away!

As mentioned previously, this milestone will also mark the formal end date of API v1 support. API v1 was deprecated back in 2018 and we strongly encourage users to migrate to API v2 or v3, the lift to move from v1 to v3 should be minimal.

From this point on API v1 access will be limited to keys that already use it, and throttled to encourage users to upgrade. If you’re still using API v1 and haven’t gotten in touch, please do so.

The plan is to fully remove the endpoints after the bulk of 2021 sessions have ended, or usage has decreased to the point that it seems reasonable to stop maintaining them.

2021 Session Updates

It’s that time of the year, elections are done and states are beginning to prepare for upcoming sessions. We have a plan in place and will be aiming to update state information as quickly as possible throughout December and January as states come back online.

If you’re curious about the status of a particular state or up for helping out we have two tracking issues you can check out the document where we’re tracking all of this, and request access if you are hoping to help.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned here and/or follow @openstates on twitter, as we have a bit more exciting news coming before the end of the year!