Legal
Data terms
The underlying legislative data is public record — Bill Commons claims no copyright over bill text, actions, or votes. These terms cover the service built on top of it: attribution, what a snapshot purchase does and doesn't let you do, and refunds. See methodology for source attribution and the software license.
No copyright claim over public records
Legislative bill text, actions, sponsorships, and votes are, in general, public-domain works of state and federal government bodies in the United States. What a paid plan or a snapshot purchase pays for is access, normalization, and delivery — a maintained API, a documented schema, a working search index, a bulk export you don't have to build yourself. Attribution and no-resale below are contract terms of the service, not a copyright claim over the facts.
Attribution
Attribute Bill Commons wherever you display or publish data from this API or a snapshot: Data via Bill Commons (billcommons.org). Where a record originated with Open States (Plural Policy), their own attribution obligation passes through.
Snapshot files: no resale, derived works fine
Snapshot files may not be redistributed or resold as-is. Building a product, analysis, or report on top of the data is fine — attribute it. Redistribution rights are available on an Enterprise agreement.
API keys
An API key is issued to one customer. Don't share a key across unrelated organizations or resell access to your key's quota. Unusually broad sharing gets flagged for a conversation, not an automatic block.
Refunds
Subscriptions (Builder, Scale): full refund within 7 days of the charge, prorated after. Use the “Manage billing” button on your account page, which opens the Stripe customer portal.
Snapshots (one-time state or full-corpus purchase): refundable until the download link is sent — once delivered, the purchase is final.
90-day price grandfathering
Anyone who becomes a paying customer within the first 90 days of Builder or Scale going on sale keeps their price for as long as their subscription stays active and in good standing.
Anonymous use
Anonymous (keyless) API access stays free, subject to a per-IP/per-network daily request cap — see API keys for the current numbers. This is not a paywall on ordinary search or reasonable API use; it's an abuse ceiling.
Contact
Questions about these terms, a refund, or a licensing deal: sales@billcommons.org.