In honor of Sunshine Week, the National Institute on Money in State Politics, has launched its Legislative Committee Analysis Tool, or CAT, which organizes campaign-finance data by the major legislative committees in each state. Here’s an example of what you can find. This new tool uses Project Vote Smart’s APIs for committee assignments. (The Institute’s own APIs are here.) NIMSP also links to candidate biographies. Look for links to candidate scorecards and bills shortly.
Next up for folks who focus on money in state politics: zip code lookups paired with Legislative District Boundary Maps and analyses; a 50-state Lobbyist Link tool that will show where lobbyists are focusing their giving.
Deborah Goldberg is the Director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center. She also serves on the board of the NIMSP.