Lin is the founder of Legislaide, described as an “AI-powered research and drafting tool for local governments” that helps officials craft legislation.
The company launched in 2023 and now is expanding via a new database for ordinances.
Cities, counties, lawyers, media and advocacy groups — those are among the people and organizations that can benefit from this new and free service, Lin told Government Technology.
“How a law is written depends on research,” Lin said, and such research can be laborious enough without the help of what amounts to a digital library. Traditionally, such work “has to be done by a sophisticated attorney.”
The new ordinance database employs smart search — that is, the recognition of the intent of phrases used by searchers — among other features. That reflects a larger trend in the public sector of search becoming more advanced, often via the help of AI.
Legislaide collects ordinances by going to relevant websites and downloading local laws.
“The objective is to establish a new industry norm,” Lin said, “and the biggest ordinance database.”
He also envisions partnering with municipal leagues and groups to expand the ordinance collection.
While database searches are free, Lin expects to earn revenue from other services, including compliance, as the young company — previously part of a high-profile government technology accelerator program — grows. Compliance is another time-consuming task for local public agencies, as municipal codes generally require regular updates and revisions.
He also plans an artificial intelligence “assistant” service.
Before Legislaide, Lin’s professional experience included a year as a business analyst for Amazon Web Services — a cloud-computing operation that is steadily gaining more presence in the public sector.
While at that job, he said, Lin helped a friend who was a city council member use AI to write local legislation. That sparked his commitment to government technology.
“I learned how short staffed local governments are,” he said.
