What is the AI Analyst and how do I use it?

The AI Legislative Analyst answers questions about your state's legislature in plain language. It looks up bills, votes, legislators, committees and what is moving this session, along with your organization's tracked bills and Issue Portfolios, and writes an answer that links to the bills it used.

Open AI Analyst under Bill Tracking in the left navigation.

Who can use it

Owners, Editors and Analysts can use the AI Analyst. Viewers do not see it in the navigation. To change a role, an Owner uses Team & access in Settings.

Ask a question

Type in the box at the bottom and press Enter. On a new conversation, you can start from a suggestion, such as:

• "What bills are we tracking and which need attention?"
• "What significant legislation was filed in the last 30 days?"
• "Which committees are handling the most healthcare bills?"

While it works, you see what it is doing. A long answer can stop partway. Click Continue researching to let it finish.

Under each answer you can copy it, mark it helpful or not helpful, and see the estimated cost of that answer.

You can also start from a bill or a portfolio:

• On a bill's page, Ask AI about this bill asks it to explain the bill, where it stands and what has changed.
• On an Issue Portfolio, Ask AI asks for a briefing on the portfolio's bills.

The Analyst is written by AI. Check what it says against the bill text and official records before you rely on it.

Your conversations

Conversations are listed on the left, grouped by date. Click New analysis to start a fresh one, search them with Search conversations, or delete one you no longer need. Your conversations are private to you. Other staff, including the Owner, do not see them.

Turning it on: Settings > Legislative Analyst

The Analyst runs on your organization's own AI account. Until a key is added, the AI Analyst page says an owner must add an API key, with a link to Open Settings.

An Owner opens Settings from the user menu, then Legislative Analyst:

1. Choose a Provider: Claude (Anthropic), OpenAI, Gemini (Google) or Grok (xAI). Each option says where to create a key.
2. Paste the key under API key and click Save and activate. We check the key before saving it. It is stored encrypted and never shown again.
3. The section then says the Analyst is on and shows the provider and the last four characters of the key.

To change keys, use Replace key. Remove key turns the Analyst off until a key is added again.

Spend limit

Each answer's cost is billed by your AI provider to your organization's account, not by Conservative States. The section shows spending for the last 24 hours and the last 7 days.

The Spend limit caps estimated spending over any rolling 24 hours. It starts at $75. An Owner can set it anywhere from $1 to $10,000 and click Save limit. When the limit is reached, new questions are refused until spending in the last 24 hours drops, or an Owner raises the limit.

Only the Owner can add, replace or remove the key and change the spend limit.

If this does not solve it, email support@conservativestates.app and tell us your organization's name.