What is Legislata?

Legislata is a platform for managing information in the political ecosystem. It can help everyone from elected officials to journalists to citizens participate in our democracy more efficiently.

Our hope is to create a product that help save time, avoid redundant work, and to keep track of what matters more easily.

What is in Legislata Team and Pro?

Elected officials, advocates, and others may require more features to get through the day, so we have premium tiers that contain:

• Email client

• Non-email message logging (eg, phone calls and letters)

• Task management

• Data analysis

You can read more about these features here.

How does the email work?

Legislata can act as your email client, like Apple Mail or Microsoft Outlook. We provide added functionality to your inbox and streamlined operations. When you sign up there will be prompts to guide your secure connection. Currently, we support Office 365 email accounts.

If I’m part of multiple offices, which should I connect my email to?

Every user is given a personal office (our term for a workspace or group) when they sign up. They can also join others. So if Jane is a staffer for Rep. Smith and also works closely with the Appropriations Committee, she could be a member of Jane’s Personal Office, Office of Rep. Smith, Office of the Appropriations Committee, and subscribe to many others.

Legislata creates a contact for people who email you automatically at the level of your office. This helps save time and prevents duplicate entries. But it also means that you should only connect your email to an office where you want to share contacts. If Jane’s contacts relate to her work with Rep. Smith, but not the Appropriations Committee, then she should connect her email within the Office of Rep. Smith.

Does this replace Microsoft 365/GSuite?

No. Legislata provides added functionality to email and offers other features, but it does not replace Microsoft 365 or GSuite. In fact, we think this is a great complement to these sorts of products, especially as offices now are moving towards cloud-based solutions as they move to support hybrid working.

How secure is Legislata?

As secure as possible. This is our highest priority.

Legislata is a cloud-based web application, hosted on a cloud platform provider owned by Salesforce, one of the largest software companies in the world. The physical infrastructure is hosted and managed within Amazon’s secure data centers and utilizes the Amazon Web Service (AWS) technology. Amazon continually manages risk and undergoes recurring assessments to ensure compliance with industry standards. 

Amazon’s data center operations have been accredited under:

• ISO 27001

• SOC 1 and SOC 2/SSAE 16/ISAE 3402 (Previously SAS 70 Type II)

• PCI Level 1

• FISMA Moderate

• Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX)

When users connect their email accounts to Legislata, all email calls will be handled by an infrastructure solutions provider that adheres to SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, and is regularly audited. 

When a user logs on, we will use bidirectional syncing, as with Outlook or Apple Mail, to call up the email and let users send email. When they log off, the connection is broken and email bodies are not saved. The subject lines and a preview snippet (which have to be stored so the inbox can work quickly) are encrypted to give them an added layer of protection.

We also will not be storing your email passwords; that will happen via a token authorization.

What is this magic link I have to use to log in?

To provide even greater security, we do not use passwords to log in to Legislata. Instead, when you log in, we email you a link which will keep you signed in on that device. Your Legislata account is therefore just as secure as your email account (which should be the most secure account you have). This prevents passwords being stolen and makes it easier for you to work with Legislata without another thing to remember.

Will you sell my data?

We do not sell your data. Our business model is to provide a service in exchange for subscription fees. It’s that simple.

Does Legislata donate to candidates/office-holders?

We don’t wish to appear biased and we also don’t want to spend any money we don’t have to. We therefore have a company policy against any political donations by the corporation.

Does Legislata offer campaigning tools?

Legislata is build for governing. It does not offer traditional campaigning like fundraising or canvassing support. However, if you need email and task management for your campaign, it can help.

Be sure to check in your own jurisdiction what restrictions you might face in using information acquired in governance for campaigning purposes. Generally speaking, you’ll need separate accounts for governing and campaigning.

What if I want to delete my data?

If user choose to delete it, it will be permanently deleted. We’ll be sorry to see you go, but want you to have the assurance that you can leave when you like.