Maine legislative intelligence from public hearings and work sessions
CivicEar is an AI tool that summarizes public meetings. Paste a link to a Maine Legislature hearing or work session and get a short, timestamped report of what was said and decided, without sitting through hours of video.
18:42Supporters described gaps in rural transportation access and municipal funding.
Testimony described unmet rural transit needs across several Maine communities.
How it works
Paste a link to a public meeting video, such as a Maine Legislature committee hearing on YouTube. CivicEar gets the meeting’s captions, or makes its own transcript with timestamps when there are none. It then reads the whole meeting and writes a report: what was discussed, who testified and where they stood, how the votes went, and every moment that mentions the bills or topics you follow. Before you see it, a second check compares the report with the transcript, fixes mistakes it can confirm and flags anything it cannot. A two-hour hearing is usually ready in under twenty minutes.
What’s in a report
Every report starts with a short summary of the decisions and main topics that you can read in a minute. Below it are the key points, the testimony on each bill (who spoke and whether they supported or opposed it), the motions and votes, and matches for the bills, names and keywords on your watchlist. Public hearings and work sessions are kept separate, the way Maine committees run them. Each item has a timestamp that opens the recording at that moment, so you can hear it for yourself. When something isn’t clear in the recording, the report says so instead of guessing.
Accuracy and trust
CivicEar is a way to find and check what was said. It is not a substitute for the recording.
- AI-generated
- AI can make mistakes. Verify important information against the original source before relying on this report.
- Every finding cites the recording
- Each summary point, testimony position and match links back to a timestamp in the public recording, so you can check it against the source.
- Checked and corrected
- A second AI check compares each report with the transcript. It fixes mistakes it can confirm and flags anything it cannot. This reduces errors; it does not remove the need to verify what matters.
- Uncertainty is flagged, not guessed
- When a date, number or result is unclear in the recording, CivicEar says so instead of filling the gap.
Who made CivicEar
I’m Andrew Cook. I grew up in Southern Maine and now study information systems at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston.
Public meetings can run for hours, but the moment that matters to you might only be a few minutes. I built CivicEar for professionals, activists, and representatives to spend less time listening to meetings and more time working.
Common questions
- What is CivicEar?
- CivicEar is an AI tool that summarizes public meetings. It turns recordings of Maine Legislature committee hearings, work sessions and other public meetings into short, timestamped reports, so you can see what was said and decided without watching hours of video.
- Who is CivicEar for?
- Professionals who follow legislation, such as lobbyists, government-relations staff and nonprofits, as well as advocates, activists, and legislators and their staff.
- Which meetings does it work with?
- Public meeting videos on YouTube, including Maine Legislature committee hearings and work sessions. Videos with captions are the fastest; when there are no captions, CivicEar makes its own transcript with timestamps. Support for other video sites is being tested.
- How long does a report take?
- A two-hour meeting is usually ready in under twenty minutes.
- How accurate are the reports?
- AI can make mistakes, so every point links to the exact moment in the recording, a second check corrects errors it can confirm against the transcript, and anything uncertain is marked. Check what matters against the recording before relying on it.
- How do I get access?
- Request access from the sign-up page.