Retrieve Dockets from a Government Agency — get

Fetches docket information from a specified government agency using the regulations.gov API. This function returns a data frame containing docket details based on specified filters.

Usage

get_dockets(agency, lastModifiedDate = Sys.time(), 
            lastModifiedDate_mod = "le", docketType = NULL, 
            api_keys)

Arguments

agency

A character string containing the agency acronym. Must match official agency acronyms used on regulations.gov (e.g., "EPA", "FCC", "CMS").

lastModifiedDate

Filter dockets by their last modified date. Default is current system time. Format must be: "yyyy-MM-dd%20HH:mm:ss" (e.g., "2024-01-01%2000:00:00" for January 1, 2024).

lastModifiedDate_mod

Modifier for the date filter. Acceptable values:

"le": Less than or equal to (default)
"ge": Greater than or equal to
NULL: Collects results for a single exact date match

docketType

Optional filter for docket type. Filter by specific docket categories (e.g., "Rulemaking", "Nonrulemaking"). See regulations.gov documentation for valid types.

api_keys

Character string or vector containing API key(s) from api.data.gov. If multiple keys are provided, the function will cycle through them to manage rate limits.

References

Regulations.gov API Documentation: https://open.gsa.gov/api/regulationsgov/

Agency Acronym List: https://www.regulations.gov/agencies

Examples

if (FALSE) { # \dontrun{
# Basic usage with EPA
epa_dockets <- get_dockets("EPA", api_keys = "DEMO_KEY")

# Filter by date (dockets modified since January 1, 2024)
recent_dockets <- get_dockets("FCC", 
                              lastModifiedDate = "2024-01-01%2000:00:00",
                              lastModifiedDate_mod = "ge")

# Filter by docket type with specific date range
rulemaking_dockets <- get_dockets("CMS",
                                  lastModifiedDate = "2024-06-01%2000:00:00",
                                  lastModifiedDate_mod = "ge",
                                  docketType = "Rulemaking")

# Using multiple API keys for higher rate limits
keys <- c("api_key_1", "api_key_2", "api_key_3")
results <- get_dockets("EPA", api_keys = keys)
} # }