A few questions

[briatte]

Hi,

This looks like cool data.

• Could you please explain what the folder structure of the bills folder mean? I guess it's just related to the pagination of the search results, but would like confirmation.
• What are "JGMs" exactly? Are these interpellations of the government? They seem to have mixed types, like "message + bill".
• Are resolutions binding in Argentina? Do they become binding if approved, like bills?

[seykron]

Hello @briatte.

1. The folder structure is designed to balance the file system tree, since usually file systems get slower when there're too many files in a single directory. The convention is based on the bill ID: 2009-D-1234 -> 20/09/2009-D-1234
2. JGM is Jefatura de Gabinete de Ministros
3. It depends. According to the Senator's Chamber documentation, resolutions have two usages. They could work like a "declaration", which sets an official position about something, or it could be used to modify the internal regulations. In the second case, it is binding within the Congress, but it doesn't affect the people.

[briatte]

Thank you very much for that detailed answer.

1. That makes sense.
2. So these are, technically, executive, not legislative, proposals?
3. This usage comes close to what I've understood of motions in countries like Denmark.

Two quick suggestions:

• if you can work out a way to simplify the party affiliations (from 100+ different parties to, say, a dozen), that would really help users who are not familiar with Argentinian politics. I tried to match your data with these datasets, which feature such simplified affiliations—but it was too much work with names (due to encoding issues and other issues)
• alternatively, if you find a way to scrape members of parliament over the same period as you scrape bills, that would be reeeeeally cool; that's probably asking too much, but I'll ask anyway :)