About CivicLens

Why CivicLens?

Most people don't engage with local politics not because they don't care — but because the cost to care is too high. Everything is buried in PDFs, written in legal jargon, filtered through partisan interpreters, or drowned in national political noise.

CivicLens cuts through all of that. We fetch actual legislation from state legislatures and local governments, summarize it in plain language without spin or editorializing, and deliver it to you.

How It Works

1
Ingest
We pull legislation from state legislatures and local government sources.
2
Summarize
AI translates legalese into plain language — what it does, who it affects, what you can do.
3
Deliver
Get updates via Telegram or browse on the web. No noise, no spin.

Principles

  • Nonpartisan. We show what legislation does, not what to think about it.
  • Local first. National politics gets enough attention. We focus on your community.
  • Plain language. No legalese. No jargon. If a 12-year-old can't understand it, we failed.
  • Actionable. We tell you when you can comment, attend a hearing, or contact your rep.
  • Transparent. We link to the original documents. Always.

Data Sources

  • OpenStates — state legislation across all 50 states
  • Local government portals — city and county agendas (coming soon)

Get Involved

CivicLens is open source. Want to add your city, improve summaries, or build a new feature?

View on GitHub