15fd3f4 · Docket

Scope: full-spectrum transparency (bills/laws/amendments/riders/votes/closed-door), not spending-centric; add lookup mode + accessibility as first-class

15fd3f4 Zion Boggan committed on Jun 26, 2026 (1 month ago)

PLAN.md +30 -3

		@@ -15,11 +15,38 @@ Date: 2026-06-26 · Status: PLAN ONLY · Method: overseer (Opus synth + Sonnet/H

		## 1. The Idea in One Line

	-	> The only app that shows you what the federal government actually did this week - bills passed or stalled, dollars moved, programs cut or funded - in plain English, with zero spin, every fact sourced directly to an official government record.
	+	> The unfiltered public record of what government does - every bill, law, amendment, and vote, including what gets slipped in by either side - at federal and granular state level, made legible to any citizen, with zero spin and every fact sourced directly to an official record.

	-	The emotional hook is the user's own reaction: "Wait - this was happening and I had no idea." (e.g., the CBS Texas clip: a Trump-backed election bill stalling on a House conservative blockade - a real, consequential floor event most people never hear about.)
	+	Scope correction (2026-06-26, Zion): Docket is NOT a spending tracker. Spending is one lens. Docket is full-spectrum government transparency - all bills, all laws, all amendments/riders, all votes, plus the procedural / closed-door activity that is technically public but buried where no ordinary citizen can find it.

	-	The product's entire job is to convert official legislative/spending actions into calm, neutral, glanceable awareness - and to do it without ever picking a side.
	+	Two jobs at once:
	+	- Awareness - a neutral feed so you catch what's happening ("this was happening and I had no idea" - e.g. the CBS Texas clip: an election bill stalling on a House blockade, a floor event most people never hear about).
	+	- Lookup - a resource where anyone, including an 80-year-old, can dig up exactly what their representatives did on any bill, in any state, on a granular level - unfiltered, in plain English.
	+
	+	The product's job is to convert the complete official record into calm, neutral, legible visibility - and to do it without ever picking a side.
	+
	+	---
	+
	+	## 1b. Coverage pillars (full-spectrum)
	+
	+	Docket must cover, for federal and every state, on a granular look-up-anything basis:
	+
	+	1. Bills & laws - every bill introduced, its full text, status timeline, sponsors/cosponsors, committee path, and final enacted law.
	+	2. Amendments & riders - "what got slipped in." The signature feature. Every amendment, manager's amendment, en-bloc add, and rider - and a text-diff view that shows what was added/removed between bill versions (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled) and between House/Senate/conference versions. This is where provisions get buried; Docket drags them into daylight.
	+	3. Votes - recorded AND unrecorded. Roll calls with per-member positions, and surfacing when something passed by voice vote / unanimous consent / suspension (i.e., no individual record exists) - because "there is no record" is itself information a citizen deserves.
	+	4. The buried / closed-door layer - committee markups & hearings, conference committees, procedural maneuvers (cloture, discharge petitions, motions to recommit), the Congressional Record, lobbying disclosures, and executive actions (Executive Orders, agency rulemaking via the Federal Register). Technically public, practically invisible.
	+	5. Spending - appropriations, awards, agency outlays, debt/deficit. One lens among many, not the headline.
	+	6. Who - representatives and their actual records (votes, sponsorships, what they slipped in), so "what did MY rep do" is one search.
	+
	+	Two modes for every pillar: the feed (what's new, ranked by official action) and deep look-up (search/browse anything, any state, any granularity). The look-up mode is co-equal with the feed - Zion's explicit ask.
	+
	+	## 1c. Accessibility as a first-class principle
	+
	+	Docket must be usable by any citizen, explicitly including an 80-year-old with low vision and low tech-literacy. This is a hard requirement, not a polish item:
	+	- A clean, high-contrast readable mode alongside the dark forensic brand; large type, big touch targets, no hover-only interactions.
	+	- Plain-language explanations at a low reading grade level - without adding spin (extraction, not opinion; see §3 neutrality).
	+	- "Look up my state / my rep / my topic" search that doesn't overwhelm.
	+	- (Targets being researched; will land in `docs/ACCESSIBILITY.md` and fold into BRAND.md.)

		---

README.md +8 -2

		@@ -1,8 +1,14 @@
		# Docket

	-	See what the government actually did this week - bills, votes, and dollars - in plain English, with zero spin, every fact sourced to an official record.
	+	The unfiltered public record of what government does - every bill, law, amendment, and vote, including what gets slipped in - made legible to any citizen.

	-	Docket is a neutral, non-partisan civic-awareness app. It turns official US legislative and spending activity (federal + state) into a calm, glanceable, alert-driven feed for people who aren't already glued to politics. The whole product is built around one reaction: "this was happening and I had no idea."
	+	Docket is a neutral, non-partisan transparency resource. It collects, aggregates, and makes searchable the complete official record of US legislative activity - federal and granular state-level - and surfaces the parts that are technically public but buried where no ordinary person can find them: amendments and riders inserted by either side, voice votes, committee markups, conference-report changes, procedural maneuvers.
	+
	+	It serves two needs at once:
	+	1. Awareness - a calm, neutral feed so you catch what's happening ("this was happening and I had no idea").
	+	2. Lookup - a resource where anyone, including an 80-year-old, can go dig up exactly what their representatives did on any bill, in any state, on a granular level - in plain English, with zero spin, every fact sourced to an official record.
	+
	+	Spending is one lens, not the point. The point is full-spectrum, unfiltered visibility into what government and its representatives actually do.

		## The one rule that defines everything
		Zero political lean. If Docket reads as left- or right-leaning, it has failed. Neutrality is not a tone we aim for - it is enforced in code (see [`docs/NEUTRALITY.md`](docs/NEUTRALITY.md)).

		@@ -15,11 +15,38 @@ Date: 2026-06-26 · Status: PLAN ONLY · Method: overseer (Opus synth + Sonnet/H

		## 1. The Idea in One Line

	-	> The only app that shows you what the federal government actually did this week - bills passed or stalled, dollars moved, programs cut or funded - in plain English, with zero spin, every fact sourced directly to an official government record.
	+	> The unfiltered public record of what government does - every bill, law, amendment, and vote, including what gets slipped in by either side - at federal and granular state level, made legible to any citizen, with zero spin and every fact sourced directly to an official record.

	-	The emotional hook is the user's own reaction: "Wait - this was happening and I had no idea." (e.g., the CBS Texas clip: a Trump-backed election bill stalling on a House conservative blockade - a real, consequential floor event most people never hear about.)
	+	Scope correction (2026-06-26, Zion): Docket is NOT a spending tracker. Spending is one lens. Docket is full-spectrum government transparency - all bills, all laws, all amendments/riders, all votes, plus the procedural / closed-door activity that is technically public but buried where no ordinary citizen can find it.

	-	The product's entire job is to convert official legislative/spending actions into calm, neutral, glanceable awareness - and to do it without ever picking a side.
	+	Two jobs at once:
	+	- Awareness - a neutral feed so you catch what's happening ("this was happening and I had no idea" - e.g. the CBS Texas clip: an election bill stalling on a House blockade, a floor event most people never hear about).
	+	- Lookup - a resource where anyone, including an 80-year-old, can dig up exactly what their representatives did on any bill, in any state, on a granular level - unfiltered, in plain English.
	+
	+	The product's job is to convert the complete official record into calm, neutral, legible visibility - and to do it without ever picking a side.
	+
	+	---
	+
	+	## 1b. Coverage pillars (full-spectrum)
	+
	+	Docket must cover, for federal and every state, on a granular look-up-anything basis:
	+
	+	1. Bills & laws - every bill introduced, its full text, status timeline, sponsors/cosponsors, committee path, and final enacted law.
	+	2. Amendments & riders - "what got slipped in." The signature feature. Every amendment, manager's amendment, en-bloc add, and rider - and a text-diff view that shows what was added/removed between bill versions (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled) and between House/Senate/conference versions. This is where provisions get buried; Docket drags them into daylight.
	+	3. Votes - recorded AND unrecorded. Roll calls with per-member positions, and surfacing when something passed by voice vote / unanimous consent / suspension (i.e., no individual record exists) - because "there is no record" is itself information a citizen deserves.
	+	4. The buried / closed-door layer - committee markups & hearings, conference committees, procedural maneuvers (cloture, discharge petitions, motions to recommit), the Congressional Record, lobbying disclosures, and executive actions (Executive Orders, agency rulemaking via the Federal Register). Technically public, practically invisible.
	+	5. Spending - appropriations, awards, agency outlays, debt/deficit. One lens among many, not the headline.
	+	6. Who - representatives and their actual records (votes, sponsorships, what they slipped in), so "what did MY rep do" is one search.
	+
	+	Two modes for every pillar: the feed (what's new, ranked by official action) and deep look-up (search/browse anything, any state, any granularity). The look-up mode is co-equal with the feed - Zion's explicit ask.
	+
	+	## 1c. Accessibility as a first-class principle
	+
	+	Docket must be usable by any citizen, explicitly including an 80-year-old with low vision and low tech-literacy. This is a hard requirement, not a polish item:
	+	- A clean, high-contrast readable mode alongside the dark forensic brand; large type, big touch targets, no hover-only interactions.
	+	- Plain-language explanations at a low reading grade level - without adding spin (extraction, not opinion; see §3 neutrality).
	+	- "Look up my state / my rep / my topic" search that doesn't overwhelm.
	+	- (Targets being researched; will land in `docs/ACCESSIBILITY.md` and fold into BRAND.md.)

		---

		@@ -1,8 +1,14 @@
		# Docket

	-	See what the government actually did this week - bills, votes, and dollars - in plain English, with zero spin, every fact sourced to an official record.
	+	The unfiltered public record of what government does - every bill, law, amendment, and vote, including what gets slipped in - made legible to any citizen.

	-	Docket is a neutral, non-partisan civic-awareness app. It turns official US legislative and spending activity (federal + state) into a calm, glanceable, alert-driven feed for people who aren't already glued to politics. The whole product is built around one reaction: "this was happening and I had no idea."
	+	Docket is a neutral, non-partisan transparency resource. It collects, aggregates, and makes searchable the complete official record of US legislative activity - federal and granular state-level - and surfaces the parts that are technically public but buried where no ordinary person can find them: amendments and riders inserted by either side, voice votes, committee markups, conference-report changes, procedural maneuvers.
	+
	+	It serves two needs at once:
	+	1. Awareness - a calm, neutral feed so you catch what's happening ("this was happening and I had no idea").
	+	2. Lookup - a resource where anyone, including an 80-year-old, can go dig up exactly what their representatives did on any bill, in any state, on a granular level - in plain English, with zero spin, every fact sourced to an official record.
	+
	+	Spending is one lens, not the point. The point is full-spectrum, unfiltered visibility into what government and its representatives actually do.

		## The one rule that defines everything
		Zero political lean. If Docket reads as left- or right-leaning, it has failed. Neutrality is not a tone we aim for - it is enforced in code (see [`docs/NEUTRALITY.md`](docs/NEUTRALITY.md)).