# openstates.legislature.bills_search

Search US state legislative bills by jurisdiction, keyword, session, or subject. Returns bill summaries with identifier, title, latest action, passage date, and link to the OpenStates detail page. Covers all 50 US states and territories. Filter by session (e.g. "20252026"), classification (bill/resolution), or subject tag. Use bills_detail to fetch full text, sponsors, and voting records.

Agent View of the PolicyLayer registry record for `openstates.legislature.bills_search`. HTML page: https://policylayer.com/tools/io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase/openstates.legislature.bills-search

## Facts

- Tool: `openstates.legislature.bills_search`
- Server: Apibase (`apibase-mcp-client`) — https://policylayer.com/tools/io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase.md
- Install: `npx -y apibase-mcp-client`
- Homepage: https://github.com/whiteknightonhorse/APIbase
- Risk category: Read (Low risk)
- Registry record: grade F, identity unverified
- Server auth posture: open
- Server rate-limited: no
- Parameters: 7
- Recommended policy verdict: Allowed

## Parameters

| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `q` | string | no | Full-text keyword search across bill titles and text (e.g. "climate change", "education funding"). |
| `page` | integer | no | Page number for pagination (default 1). |
| `session` | string | no | Legislative session identifier to filter bills (e.g. "20252026" for 2025-2026 session). Format varies by state. |
| `subject` | string | no | Filter by subject/topic tag assigned to the bill (e.g. "Education", "Environment", "Health Care"). |
| `per_page` | integer | no | Number of results per page (1–50, default 20). |
| `jurisdiction` | string | no | State or jurisdiction abbreviation to search bills in (e.g. "ca", "tx", "ny"). Required unless q is provided. |
| `classification` | string | no | Filter by bill type classification (e.g. "bill", "resolution", "joint resolution", "concurrent resolution"). |

Parameters from the server's own tool schema.

## Example call (MCP tools/call, JSON-RPC 2.0)

```json
{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "tools/call",
  "params": {
    "name": "openstates.legislature.bills_search",
    "arguments": {}
  }
}
```

## Why openstates.legislature.bills_search is rated Low

Tool retrieves publicly available legislative data with no side effects or data modification capabilities.

From the tool's own definition: "Search US state legislative bills, returns bill summaries with identifier, title, latest action."

## Use case

AI agents call openstates.legislature.bills_search to retrieve information from Apibase without modifying anything. It is typically the context-gathering step in research, monitoring, and reporting workflows, before the agent takes action elsewhere.

## Recommended policy (PolicyLayer)

Verdict: **Allowed**. Enforced by the PolicyLayer MCP gateway (https://policylayer.com/mcp-gateway) before a call reaches Apibase:

```json
{
  "version": "1",
  "default": "deny",
  "tools": {
    "openstates.legislature.bills_search": {}
  }
}
```

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## For agents

This record is a snapshot. Live verdicts and the full registry:

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- Vet a server before you add it: install the mcp-precheck skill — `npx skills add https://policylayer.com` (skill text: https://policylayer.com/skill.md)
- Query the registry over MCP: endpoint `https://api.policylayer.com/mcp` — tools `check_mcp_server`, `check_mcp_stack`, `check_tool`, `search_registry`, `get_change_events`

---

Source: the PolicyLayer MCP registry — one continuously verified record per MCP server. Full record: https://policylayer.com/registry?q=io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase · API: https://policylayer.com/registry/api · Policy library: https://policylayer.com/policies/io-github-whiteknightonhorse-apibase