Perl client for Open States API

In April this year Google shut down the Civic Information Representatives API on which my Contact My Reps services depended. The website at https://contactmyreps.com has had an announcement that the service is no longer working, since then.

But yesterday I published WebService::OpenStates, a Perl client for the Plural Open States API that provides some of the same information Google did, and Contact My Reps is back up and running again!

The results (which are for US addresses) lack the president and vice-president, and local officials, but provide all the federal and state-level legislators for the address's state. Also, Open States works from lat/long coordinates, so I am looking those up from an address with WebService::Geocodio. This makes the whole thing somewhat more brittle. But anyway I am pleased to be back on line and providing contact information for representatives, because silence betokens consent :-)

The way forward always starts with a minimal test.

Comment on Perl client for Open States API

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Re: Perl client for Open States API by Anonymous Monk on Jan 02, 2026 at 14:32 UTC
Note that MIN_PERL_VERSION claims to be 5.10, but the prereq Function::Parameters requres 5.14, as well as a C compiler. Also, you're using try/catch without a direct import, so maybe you're actually expecting the user to have 5.38, or are missing a import from Try::Tiny.	[reply]
Re^2: Perl client for Open States API by 1nickt (Canon) on Jan 02, 2026 at 15:08 UTC
Thanks, I'll fix all that. The way forward always starts with a minimal test.	[reply]
Re: Perl client for Open States API by bliako (Abbot) on Jan 06, 2026 at 10:44 UTC
Also, Open States works from lat/long coordinates, so I am looking those up from an address with WebService::Geocodio. This makes the whole thing somewhat more brittle. I have implemented a Perl client for Nominatim which is an OpenStreetMap project for forward/reverse geocoding on Open Source data. The public server has totally unrestricted, no-api-key, access once per second. And one can install a local server (and for specific geographical areas) if necessary. I have not published it yet, though it works. I can publish it if you want to experiment with it. bw, bliako	[reply]
Re^2: Perl client for Open States API by 1nickt (Canon) on Jan 06, 2026 at 19:39 UTC
Hi bliako, thanks, I am pretty happy with Geocod.io but I would be interested to see your client. For sure you should publish it if the service is worthy. The way forward always starts with a minimal test.	[reply]
Re^3: Perl client for Open States API by bliako (Abbot) on Jan 09, 2026 at 09:19 UTC
Hi 1nickt, Net::API::Nominatim is now published. A Perl client for the Nominatim geocoding (forward/reverse) service which works for local installations or the public server which has free and unrestricted access (no registration with credit-cards, no api key, 1 request per second max). Nominatim uses OpenStreetMap data and PostGIS. bw, bliako	[reply]