Colorado Lobbyist Tracker

This project is a website that aggregates and organizes lobbying data in Colorado.

Versioning

• Ruby 3.2.2
• Rails 7.0.8

To create the database, run

rails db:{create,migrate}

To import test data, run

rails import_data:all

Importing all the data takes a little while, but you should see progress in your terminal.

Listing Relationships

A client hires a lobbyist
A lobbyist can have many clients
A client can hire many lobbyists

A lobbyist receives monthly income from a client

A position belongs to one client and one lobbyist
A position corresponds with one bill (or issue)

The Problem

The main problem that I'm trying to solve is of how to best show the relationships between

• Lobbyists
• Clients
• Bill
• Income
• Position

Model Schema

• bill
• client
• income
• lobbyist
• position

bill

A piece of legislation from the Colorado legislature.

Attribute	Datatype	Notes
id	bigint
bill_num	string	A unique bill number. HB24-1001, for example.
title	string	Short bill title.
fiscal_year	string	Fiscal year of the bill, IE 2024-2025.
created_at	datetime
updated_at	datetime

client

Someone who hires a lobbyist or the organization for whom a lobbyist works. From CO SoS office.

Attribute	Datatype	Notes
id	bigint
name	string
address	string
city	string
state	string
zip	string
phone	string
industry_trade_type	string
business_type	string
begin_date	date
end_date	date
status	string
ceo_names	string
fiscal_year	string
annual_lobbyist_registration_id	bigint
lobbyist_id	bigint	FK lobbyist

income

A payment from a client to a lobbyist.

Attribute	Datatype	Notes
id	bigint
annual_lobbyist_registration_id	bigint
client_name	string
client_zip	string
business_type	string
industry_trade_type	string
amount	integer
date_received	date
report_month	string
report_due_date	date
fiscal_year	string
lobbyist_id	bigint	FK lobbyist
client_id	bigint	FK client

lobbyist

A Registered lobbyist in the state of Colorado. Data comes from the SoS office.

Attribute	Datatype	Notes
id	bigint	The primaryLobbyistId assigned by the CO SoS.
name	string
last_name	string
first_name	string
middle_name	string
suffix	string
firm_name	string
address	string
city	string
state	string
zip	string
phone	string
fiscal_years_registered	string
lobbyist_type	string	Mostly Professional. Some State and Redistricting.
designation	string	- Individual lobbyist that is not employed by a lobbying firm - Individual lobbyist employed by a lobbying firm - Lobbying firm with 2 or more members - Single-member lobbying firm - Entities reporting contributions and expenditures only - designation not available
status	string	* Current * Expired * Terminated
created_at	datetime
updated_at	datetime

position

The position of a client on a particular piece of legislation. Reported monthly. Specific to a client and lobbyist.

Attribute	Datatype	Notes
id	bigint
report_month	string
fiscal_year	string
position	position	Support, Oppose, Watching, or Amending
bill_id	bigint	Reference to a bill
client_id	bigint	Reference to a client
lobbyist_id	bigint	Reference to a lobbyist
created_at	datetime
updated_at	datetime

Raw Data

Links to file on the Colorado Sos's website.

• Professional lobbyists and firms directory (TXT)
• Client positions - subjects and bills - current fiscal year (TXT)
• Client directory - current fiscal year (TXT)
• Lobbying income - current fiscal year (TXT)

Links that I don't use currently but could beuseful later

• Client positions - subjects and bills - 5-year history (TXT)
• Client directory - 5-year history (TXT)
• Lobbying income - 5-year history (TXT)

General Resources

• Lobbying Guidance Manual
• Colorado Secretary of State Lobbying Homepage