CalMatters, MAPLE Launch Landmark Partnership

Two of America’s most innovative state-based civic technology organizations are launching a new coast-to-coast collaboration. CalMatters, which explains California policies and politics and is one of America’s largest nonprofit newsrooms, is partnering with MAPLE (the Massachusetts Platform for Legislative Engagement), a free public platform that helps users track legislation, submit and read legislative testimony, and access transcripts of legislative hearings.

The two organizations have agreed to share civic technology, information, and expertise, and will develop new projects focused on New England states. This is CalMatters’ second state partnership and its first in the eastern U.S. 

“CalMatters and MAPLE share the goals of helping people better understand what their government is doing, how it impacts their lives, and how to take civic action,” said Neil Chase, CEO of CalMatters. “Together we’ll help each other learn and grow, while building civic engagement in our communities.”

The partnership will allow MAPLE to generate story ideas for local media using the technology behind Digital Democracy, CalMatters’ custom-built AI tool that tracks and analyzes every word spoken in public hearings, every dollar donated to politicians, every bill introduced, every vote cast and more. Stories suggested by Digital Democracy have informed Emmy Award-winning investigative journalism. 

“At a time when journalists are asked to do more with less, these free, award-winning tools will be a tremendous resource for delivering quality coverage that informs the public and holds our public officials accountable,” said Joe Kriesberg, Chief Executive Officer of MassINC and Publisher of CommonWealth Beacon.

Access to timely, comprehensive, and actionable legislative information is essential for a healthy democracy, yet this information is often siloed, inaccessible, or overwhelming for the public. Grassroots organizations, unions, neighborhood groups, youth organizers, and advocacy coalitions often struggle to track bills, coordinate testimony, and respond quickly to policy developments. On the other side, legislators themselves lack modern tools to understand the will and knowledge of their constituents, with input fragmented across emails, hearings, lobbyists, and social media.

“We’re excited to be able to bring CalMatters’ world-leading civic tech innovation and features to Massachusetts and the rest of New England. Our collaboration will benefit people in California and New England, while helping both organizations learn and grow,” said Matthew Victor, Executive Director of Digital Civic Infrastructure at Partners In Democracy, which operates MAPLE.

MAPLE’s tools, all freely available to the public, allow users to:

• Access the full text and AI-generated summaries for every bill introduced in the past five years; filter and sort the thousands of introduced bills using AI-generated keywords and advanced sorting criteria.
• Add testimony to MAPLE’s bill pages, either as an individual or an organization, supporting users in delivering testimony to committee chairs and their own legislators.
• Track bills and other users, and receive updates as a bill moves through the legislature or when a user adds new testimony.
• Read and search AI-generated transcripts of legislative hearings. 

About CalMatters

CalMatters is a nonpartisan and nonprofit news organization bringing Californians stories that probe, explain and explore solutions to quality of life issues while holding our leaders accountable. We are the only journalism outlet dedicated to covering America’s biggest state, 39 million Californians and the world’s fifth largest economy.

About MAPLE

A project of Partners In Democracy, MAPLE uses cutting edge technology to better connect people to civic life, to their elected officials, and to each other. Built as a digital public square for state policymaking, MAPLE translates complex bills into plain language, generates summaries and transcripts, and surfaces relevant testimony — making the legislative process more accessible to grassroots organizers, local leaders, journalists, and anyone else who wants to make their community a better place.

Back to Newsroom