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States Newsroom
Stateline, its national desk, and its network of state outlets
The closest thing to a daily statehouse beat in most of the country. States Newsroom is a nonprofit network with its own news organizations in 39 states, and it shares stories from partner newsrooms to reach the rest. Its national desk, Stateline, which the Pew Charitable Trusts handed over in 2023, writes nonpartisan stories on trends in state policy, so a piece on Medicaid or school choice shows which states have moved and which are holding out. Every article can be republished free under a Creative Commons license, so a story may turn up in your hometown paper. Opinion pieces are labeled and generally lean left. Read your state's outlet beside a neighbor's.
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Pluribus News
For spotting a policy idea before it reaches your state, the Pluribus AM newsletter is hard to beat. Founded in 2022 by political journalist Reid Wilson, Pluribus News reports on state-level policy and legislation across all 50 states, and it is good at noticing when the same bill is appearing in several capitols at once. It was written mainly for lawmakers, lobbyists and public affairs staff, so expect brisk shorthand rather than explainers. It is now part of State Affairs, a network of statehouse newsrooms, which may change what stays free over time; the morning email is still offered at no charge.
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Governing (magazine)
Where state politics meets the plumbing of government. Governing has covered state and local government since Congressional Quarterly launched it in 1987, and it writes for the people running things: governors, legislators, mayors and county officials. That makes it the place to learn why a budget gap opened, how a new transportation or workforce program will actually be delivered, and which states tried an idea first. It reads more like a trade publication than a news site, which is a strength when you want the how rather than the who-won.
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Bolts (magazine)
Bolts covers the parts of state power most voters skip on the ballot: state supreme courts, lesser-known offices and the citizen initiatives that rewrite state law. It is a nonprofit magazine whose recurring focus is criminal justice, policing, voting rights and democracy, and it follows those fights across many states at once, so a story on new rules for ballot initiatives in Arkansas sits beside results from Missouri and Virginia. Its What's on the Ballot resources, offered since 2018, are a practical help before any election. The choice of topics has a clear point of view, so pair it with a broader source.
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Votebeat
Narrow on purpose, and that is the appeal. Votebeat covers election administration: who counts the ballots, how voter registration works and what new election laws change for clerks and voters. It has reporters in Arizona, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin, all closely watched in national elections, yet the stories travel well, because a fix tried in one state often shows up in another's next session. The nonprofit's stories are free to read and free for other outlets to republish. If your state is not one of the five, expect lessons by comparison rather than local news.
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The Center Square
A different lens worth having in the rotation. The Center Square, formerly Watchdog.org, is a project of the Franklin News Foundation, a conservative nonprofit, and it has long placed reporters in state capitols. It distributes its stories through a newswire, so they turn up in papers that never send anyone to the statehouse. Read it for a fiscally conservative framing of budget and tax fights, and set it beside a nonprofit outlet with different priorities to see how the same bill can be told two ways. The point of view is open, which makes it easy to account for.
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Ballotpedia
The reference shelf for anyone who has ever asked who represents them in the state house. Ballotpedia is a nonpartisan online political encyclopedia covering federal, state and local politics, elections and public policy, with deep pages on initiatives, referendums and recalls. Look up your legislators, see who is on the next ballot, or read the wording of a ballot measure before you vote on it. Founded in 2007 and sponsored by the nonprofit Lucy Burns Institute in Wisconsin, it now runs with a staff of about 90, and the pages are free to read.
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Open States
When a news story mentions a bill number, this is where to read the bill itself. Open States gathers bills, votes and legislators from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and Congress, collecting bill and vote data several times a day. Use it to find your legislators, follow a bill through committee or see how a chamber voted. It began at the Sunlight Foundation in 2009 and has been maintained by Plural since 2021. Raw legislative records are dense, so pair it with a news source that explains what a bill would change.
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LegiScan
For following particular bills rather than reading about them. LegiScan monitors every bill in the 50 states and Congress, and its free OneVote account for individuals lets you build a list of the bills you care about and get notified when they move. Full-text keyword search helps when you know the subject but not the bill number, and its legislative datasets are free to download for anyone who wants to dig deeper. Paid tiers add multistate tracking for professionals, so the free account suits a reader watching a handful of bills rather than a whole session.
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National Conference of State Legislatures
Not a news outlet, but the place to go when you need to compare state laws. The National Conference of State Legislatures is a nonpartisan organization for sitting state legislators and their staff, founded in 1975, with its presidency alternating between Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Its 50-state searchable bill-tracking databases, more than 40 of them on different policy issues, answer the question of which other states have tried a similar law without wading through fifty statute books. The writing is aimed at legislative staff, so it is dry, but it stays clear of the partisan fight.
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