-- Legislative Labs, a civic engagement company focused on making state legislation more accessible, has announced the launch of Legislative Labs Classroom, a web-based platform that brings actual state legislation into civic education through interactive lessons, legislative simulations, discussion, debate, and live voting. The platform enables educators to introduce real bills into the classroom, give students context and multiple perspectives, and compare classroom decisions with legislative outcomes.
The platform reflects a broader approach to civic education in which students can connect concepts from government, history, law, and democracy with decisions being made in their communities. Instead of learning about the legislative process only through textbooks and worksheets, students can examine real bills, consider competing viewpoints, discuss policy questions, and participate in a simulated legislative chamber.
The idea grew from founder Adrian Menard’s experience observing the legislative process from inside a state capitol. Seeing lawmakers work through policy in real time gave him a perspective most citizens rarely access. “You can watch proceedings on television or sit in the gallery, but it’s not the same as being on the floor and seeing policy happen in real time,” Menard says. “That experience made me realize how little visibility most people have into their state legislature.”
Menard later spent three years developing software for a state legislative body, building committee applications, working with legislative APIs, and learning the data systems behind the lawmaking process. That experience also highlighted a fundamental challenge: legislative information can be difficult to understand without familiarity with the terminology and procedures surrounding it.
“When we started talking about state legislation, we realized that many people are unfamiliar with how the process works,” Menard says. “If you don’t know what a sponsor is, what a committee does, or how a bill becomes law, having more legislative information doesn’t necessarily help you engage with it.”
That realization led Legislative Labs to view civic education as an important part of its broader mission. By introducing students to the mechanics of legislation through real policy questions, the company aims to help make government more understandable while creating opportunities for active participation.
With Legislative Labs Classroom, an educator can launch a simulated legislative chamber and guide students through a bill. Students review the issue, consider different perspectives, participate in structured discussion, debate their positions, and cast individual votes. The platform displays classroom results in real time, allowing students to compare their collective decision with the outcome reached by the actual legislature.
The platform also gives educators a way to connect current events and public policy with existing coursework. Teachers can select legislation connected to curriculum objectives, local issues, or subjects relevant to their students. Plain-language legislative context, discussion support, teacher-controlled sessions, live chamber display functionality, student participation tools, and vote history help educators facilitate the experience while maintaining control over classroom pacing.
According to Menard, an early classroom demonstration reinforced the potential of the approach. During a session at a high school, an educator pointed out a student who had remained quiet throughout the semester. The student subsequently joined the legislative discussion, giving the teacher an opportunity to hear a voice that had largely been absent from classroom conversations.
“That moment showed me that we could spark something meaningful,” Menard says. “When a student who has been quiet all semester finds a reason to raise a hand and contribute, that’s a powerful outcome for a civic education experience.”
Legislative Labs sees the classroom platform as part of a larger civic engagement mission. State legislatures make decisions that affect communities, schools, businesses, and everyday life, yet following those decisions can require navigating specialized terminology, procedures, and government systems. The classroom creates an opportunity to build that understanding earlier, giving students practical familiarity with legislative processes that can continue to inform civic participation as they grow.
Legislative Labs is currently operating in Washington State and validated its platform during the 2026 legislative session, tracking numerous bills. The company plans to expand Legislative Labs Classroom across all 50 states over the next few years, while continuing to expand its broader legislative intelligence platform into additional states.
For Menard, the long-term vision begins with making government easier to understand. “Civic engagement starts with understanding,” he says. “If students can learn how their government works through human interactions, they can carry that understanding with them as they become engaged citizens.”
Contact Info:
Name: Adrian Menard
Email: Send Email
Organization: Legislative Labs
Website: https://www.legislativelabs.ai/
Release ID: 89200391
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