Vol. 2026 · The Comparison · Special Edition
CivicRadarCivicRadar is the answer to four questions civic tech mostly stopped trying to answer after MapLight shut down in 2021. Each one is a place where existing tools have a clear gap. We name the gap, show how we close it, then point you to the place in the product where the claim is redeemed.
Generic for everyone
Filtered by who you are
Most civic tools show every visitor the same bills. We surface the legislation moving in your state that touches the identities and issues you picked: LGBTQ+, immigrant, renter, on Medicaid, whichever fits. Your identity tags stay on your device. The bill cache only sees state plus a hashed keyword set, never anything that ties back to you.
→ Try the identity selector on the front page.
No advocacy positions
Lambda Legal, ACLU, and 248+ others on every bill
When MapLight shut down in 2021, civic tech lost its only good source of organizational positions on legislation. We rebuilt it. Lambda Legal, the ACLU, Equality Federation state affiliates, Planned Parenthood state arms, League of Conservation Voters chapters, and 248 other advocacy groups have positions in our dataset. When you open a bill, you see who's tracking it and where they stand.
→ Look for the position chips on bill cards in your results.
Templated scripts
A letter in your voice
Most contact-your-rep tools hand you a fill-in-the-blank script. We use Claude (Anthropic) to draft a letter grounded in your identity, your selected issues, and an optional sentence about your situation. If a bill affects you directly, the letter says so. If you're writing as an ally, it says that instead. Edit any of it before you send. Your draft never touches our servers.
→ Open the message panel on any bill in your results.
Did you engage?
Did the bill pass?
Most civic tools brag about how many emails went out. What actually matters is whether the law moved. Our dashboard tracks where bills sit (introduced, in committee, on the floor, passed, signed) across the current session in your state. If your rep votes the wrong way and the bill becomes law anyway, the engagement metric was a lie.
Example: MD current session
→ Look at the legislative snapshot on the front page, or open /sessions for the full pipeline.