Last Updated: September 6, 2026
Welcome to GovFacts.org (“Website”). The GovFacts Website is operated by Something Better, Inc. (“we”, “us”, or “our”). Something Better, Inc. is a private company. This Website is not a government agency and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any federal, state, local, or tribal government agency. By accessing or using this Website, you agree to be bound by these Terms of Use (“Terms”). If you do not agree with these Terms, do not use this Website.
This Website is available to users who are 13 years of age or older. If you are not 13 years of age or older, do not use this Website.
1. Acceptance of Terms
You acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Terms and to comply with all applicable laws and regulations. We may make changes to these Terms at any time. Any modifications will be effective when the changes are posted to the Website, except that a material change takes effect thirty (30) days after we post it and will be marked at the top of this page. You can know if these Terms have been revised since your last visit by checking the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page.
2. Privacy Policy
Your use of the Website is also governed by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by this reference. Please review to understand our practices regarding the collection and use of your information. The Privacy Policy discloses how we, our vendors, and our service providers collect and use data when you use this Website. By using this Website you consent to that collection and use as described there, including under any policy it links to. You can withdraw that consent at any time by following the opt-out instructions in the Privacy Policy.
3. Accounts
This Website does not offer user accounts. You do not need to register to read anything here or to use the assistant described in section 8.
4. Content and Intellectual Property Rights
All information, text, images, graphics, interfaces, and other material displayed, available or present on this Website (“Content”), including any intellectual property rights in such Content (including without limitation trademarks and copyrights) (“Intellectual Property Rights”), are the property of GovFacts, its affiliates, its licensors, or the designated owners, and are protected by applicable intellectual property laws.
5. Authorized and Prohibited Uses
You may view, download, and print text Content subject to the following conditions: (a) the Content may be used solely for informational and non-commercial purposes; (b) the Content may not be modified or altered in any way.
The following are not permitted: (c) systematic or bulk copying of Content, whether by crawler, script, or repeated manual request, beyond what reading this Website requires; (d) republishing Content as a substitute for this Website or presenting it as your own; (e) working around any rate limit, access control, or other technical measure applied to this Website or to the assistant.
None of this restricts ordinary use. You may read anything here, quote it with attribution, link to any page, and cite what you find. Where this Website quotes or describes a work of the United States government, that work is in the public domain and nothing in these Terms changes that; these conditions apply to our own writing, selection, and arrangement.
Section 8 sets out what is and is not acceptable use of the GovAsk assistant.
6. Tampering with or Illegal Use of Website
You are not allowed to tamper with or manipulate the content of this Website, or otherwise damage this Website. Neither may you use it for any unlawful purpose.
You also may not: (a) access, or attempt to access, any part of this Website, the GovAsk assistant, or the systems behind them that is not open to the public. The administrative console and its interfaces are not open to the public, and you are not authorized to access or use them; (b) probe, scan, or test the vulnerability of this Website or any related system, or breach or circumvent any security, authentication, or access-control measure; (c) interfere with the availability of this Website for anyone else, including by flooding it with requests or by any denial-of-service technique; (d) upload or transmit any virus, worm, or other harmful code; or (e) claim to be GovFacts, claim that you act for GovFacts or that we endorse you, or use this Website to make anyone think you are a government agency.
We may block or limit your access under section 13 if you do any of this, with or without notice.
7. Third-Party Services, Links, and Analytics
This Website utilizes services and contains links to websites not operated by GovFacts (“third-party services” or “third-party websites”). You agree that your use of third-party services and websites is at your own risk and is subject to their respective terms and conditions of use. GovFacts assumes no responsibility for these third-party services and websites. These services include:
Advertising (Raptive): Advertising on this Website is placed by CMI Marketing, Inc., d/b/a Raptive, which acts as our service provider for that purpose. Raptive and its partners collect and use data to choose and measure the ads you see. How that works, and how to opt out of it, is set out in section 4 and section 10 of our Privacy Policy.
Analytics (Google Analytics): We use Google Analytics to understand our website traffic and user behavior. You can learn about Google’s practices by going to Google’s Privacy & Terms and opt-out by downloading the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
The GovAsk assistant (our chatbot, which uses AI from Anthropic and OpenAI): Parts of this Website offer an automated assistant, described in section 8. To answer a question it is sent to two AI providers, after we automatically remove structured personal identifiers. Each provider states that it does not use your question to train its systems.
8. The GovAsk Assistant
Parts of this Website offer GovAsk, an automated assistant that answers questions using articles published on this Website. It is software, not a person, and it is designed to tell you so if you ask. Answers are drawn from those articles and normally show the article they came from. Some responses will not, such as a clarifying question, a decline, a note about the assistant itself, or an answer written directly by our editors. Where a citation is shown, follow it before relying on anything.
What the assistant cannot do. GovAsk cannot look up your account or case with any agency, cannot act on an application, and cannot pass a message to staff. Nothing it tells you creates any entitlement, and nothing it tells you replaces a government agency’s own process.
Not advice, and not a decision about you. GovAsk provides general information only. It does not give legal, financial, tax, medical, immigration, or benefits advice, and it cannot decide whether you are eligible for anything. Decisions about your eligibility are made by the agency running the program, not here.
Not an emergency service. GovAsk does not monitor for emergencies and cannot summon help. If you or someone else is in danger, call 911. If you are in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
Accuracy. Answers are generated by artificial intelligence and may be incomplete, out of date, or wrong. The assistant is built to decline rather than guess when it cannot support an answer from the articles it has, and a decline does not mean no answer exists. Program rules change often: check anything that matters against the agency’s own materials.
Please do not type personal information. The assistant never needs your personal details to answer a question. We automatically remove things like Social Security numbers, account numbers, and dates of birth before a question is stored or processed. We also store a general restatement rather than your words. Despite these efforts, these are not guarantees. Please leave them out.
Acceptable use. You may not query the assistant by automated means, scrape or bulk-collect its answers, try to extract its instructions or underlying materials, try to make it produce content that breaks these Terms, or submit another person’s personal information. We may block or limit access that breaks this section.
9. Copyright Infringement Policy (DMCA)
GovFacts respects the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that your copyrighted work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement and is accessible on this Website, please notify our copyright agent, as set forth in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (DMCA). For your complaint to be valid under the DMCA, you must provide the following information in writing:
- An electronic or physical signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.
- Identification of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed.
- Identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing and where it is located on the Website.
- Information reasonably sufficient to permit us to contact you, such as your address, telephone number, and e-mail address.
- A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or law.
- A statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information is accurate, and that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on behalf of the owner.
The above information must be submitted to our DMCA Agent at: help@govfacts.org
10. Disclaimers of Warranties
The articles on this Website explain government programs. They are written and checked by AI; no agency has any input. They can be incomplete, out of date, or wrong. Program rules, dollar figures, and deadlines change often, and an article that was accurate when it was written can stop being accurate without anyone touching it. Check anything that matters against the agency’s own materials before you act on it. The same is true of anything the assistant tells you, because it answers from these articles.
THE WEBSITE AND ITS CONTENT ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS. GOVFACTS EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT THE WEBSITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE. USE OF ANY GOVFACTS.ORG CONTENT IS AT YOUR OWN RISK.
THIS INCLUDES ANY RESPONSE FROM THE GOVASK ASSISTANT. WE MAKE NO WARRANTY THAT ITS ANSWERS ARE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR CURRENT, AND YOU SHOULD VERIFY ANYTHING THAT MATTERS AGAINST THE RELEVANT AGENCY’S OWN MATERIALS.
11. Limitation of Liability
NEITHER GOVFACTS NOR ANY OTHER PARTY INVOLVED IN CREATING, PRODUCING, OR DELIVERING GOVFACTS.ORG OR ITS CONTENT SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO, OR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE GOVFACTS.ORG AND ITS CONTENT, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, WHETHER OR NOT GOVFACTS IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THIS SECTION APPLIES EQUALLY TO OUR VENDORS AND SERVICE PROVIDERS, AND COVERS ANY LOSS OF PROFITS OR REVENUES, WHETHER INCURRED DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, AND ANY LOSS OF DATA, USE, GOODWILL, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF SOMETHING BETTER, INC., OR OF ITS VENDORS OR SERVICE PROVIDERS, EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID OR PAYABLE TO SOMETHING BETTER, INC. BY YOU FOR THE WEBSITE DURING THE SIX-MONTH PERIOD PRIOR TO THE ACT, OMISSION, OR OCCURRENCE GIVING RISE TO SUCH LIABILITY; OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100). THE LIMITATIONS OF THIS SECTION APPLY TO ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, STATUTE, TORT, OR OTHERWISE, AND WHETHER OR NOT THE PARTIES HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY SUCH DAMAGE, AND EVEN IF A REMEDY SET FORTH HEREIN IS FOUND TO HAVE FAILED ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE. SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR THE LIMITATION OF CERTAIN OTHER LIABILITIES, SO PARTS OF THIS SECTION AND OF SECTION 10 MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. NOTHING IN THESE TERMS LIMITS ANY LIABILITY THAT CANNOT BE LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.
12. Indemnity
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless GovFacts, its officers, directors, employees, agents, licensors, and suppliers, from and against any claims, actions or demands, liabilities and settlements, including, without limitation, reasonable legal and accounting fees, resulting from, or alleged to result from, your violation of these Terms.
13. Termination
We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to terminate your access to all or part of this Website, with or without notice, for any reason, including, without limitation, breach of these Terms.
14. Dispute Resolution by Binding Arbitration
PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY. IT AFFECTS YOUR RIGHTS, INCLUDING YOUR RIGHT TO BRING A CLAIM IN COURT AND TO HAVE A JURY DECIDE IT.
a. Applicability of Arbitration Agreement. You agree that any dispute or claim against GovFacts, or against our vendors or service providers (together, for this section 14 only, “We” or “Us”), related in any way to your access or use of this Website, to these Terms, or to any aspect of your relationship with Us, will be resolved by binding arbitration, rather than in court, except that (1) you may assert claims in small claims court if your claims qualify, so long as the matter remains in such court and advances only on an individual (non-class, non-representative) basis; and (2) you or We may seek equitable relief in court for infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights (such as trademarks, trade dress, domain names, trade secrets, copyrights, and patents). You agree that you must commence any arbitration or other claim within one (1) year after the dispute arises; otherwise, the claim is permanently barred, which means that you will no longer have the right to assert a claim regarding the dispute. This Arbitration Agreement will apply, without limitation, to all claims that arose or were asserted before the effective date of these Terms or any prior version of this Arbitration Agreement.
You agree in advance that you will not participate in or seek to recover monetary or other relief in any lawsuit filed against Us, alleging class, collective, and/or representative claims on your behalf. Instead, by agreeing to arbitration, you may bring your claims against any of Us in an individual arbitration proceeding (except for any Batch Arbitration, as described below). If successful on such claims, you could be awarded money or other relief by an arbitrator. You acknowledge that you have been advised that you may consult with an attorney in deciding whether to accept these Terms, including this Arbitration Agreement.
The Federal Arbitration Act governs the interpretation and enforcement of this Arbitration Agreement.
b. Process. To begin a claim, you must first send a letter describing your claim in detail, including your name and contact information, your legal claim, the specific facts giving rise to your claim (including the date(s) and amount(s) of any relevant transaction or interaction with us), and the requested relief, to Something Better, Inc., 19528 Ventura Blvd, Ste 472, Los Angeles, CA 91356. You and We agree to attempt in good faith to negotiate an informal resolution of your claim. If a resolution is not reached within thirty (30) days, you may commence an arbitration action as set forth herein. The arbitration will be conducted by JAMS, an established alternative dispute resolution provider. Disputes involving claims and counterclaims under $250,000, not inclusive of attorneys’ fees and interest, will be subject to JAMS’s most current version of the Streamlined Arbitration Rules and procedures available at http://www.jamsadr.com/rules-streamlined-arbitration/; all other claims will be subject to JAMS’s most current version of the Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures, available at http://www.jamsadr.com/rules-comprehensive-arbitration/. JAMS’s rules are also available at www.jamsadr.com or by calling JAMS at 800-352-5267. If JAMS is not available to arbitrate, the parties will select an alternative arbitral forum. You may choose to have the arbitration conducted remotely, based on written submissions, or in person at a mutually agreed location. We will be entitled to make an offer of judgment in the arbitration proceeding. If the offer of judgment is not accepted, and the award is not more favorable than the unaccepted offer, you will be solely responsible for all costs incurred by Us after the offer of judgment is made to the extent permitted by applicable law. Any judgment on the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.
c. Fees. If the arbitrator finds that you cannot afford to pay JAMS’s filing, administrative, hearing, and/or other fees, and you cannot obtain a waiver from JAMS, we will pay them for you. If the arbitrator determines the claims are frivolous, you agree to pay Us our attorneys’ fees and costs in the arbitration, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
d. Authority of Arbitrator. The arbitrator, and not any federal, state, or local court or agency, will have exclusive authority to resolve any dispute related to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability, or formation of this Arbitration Agreement, including, but not limited to, any claim that all or any part of this Arbitration Agreement is void or voidable. The arbitration will decide the rights and liabilities, if any, of you and Us. The arbitration proceeding will not be consolidated with any other matters or joined with any other cases or parties. The arbitrator will have the authority to grant motions dispositive of all or part of any claim. The arbitrator will have the authority to award monetary damages and to grant any non-monetary remedy or relief available to an individual under applicable law, the arbitral forum’s rules, and these Terms (including the Arbitration Agreement). The arbitrator will issue a written award and statement of decision describing the essential findings and conclusions on which the award is based, including the calculation of any damages awarded. The arbitrator has the same authority to award relief on an individual basis that a judge in a court of law would have. The award of the arbitrator is final and binding upon you and Us.
e. Waiver of Jury Trial. You and We hereby waive any constitutional and statutory rights to sue in court and have a trial in front of a judge or a jury. You and We are instead electing that all claims and disputes will be resolved by arbitration under this Arbitration Agreement, except as specified in Section (a) above. An arbitrator can award on an individual basis the same damages and relief as a court and must follow this Agreement as a court would. However, there is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is subject to very limited review.
f. Waiver of Class or Consolidated Actions. Except with respect to Batch Arbitration (as defined below), all claims and disputes within the scope of this Arbitration Agreement must be arbitrated on an individual basis and not on a class basis, only individual relief is available, and claims of more than one customer or user cannot be arbitrated or consolidated with those of any other customer or user. In the event that this subparagraph is deemed invalid or unenforceable neither you nor We are entitled to arbitration and instead claims and disputes will be resolved in a court as set forth in these Terms.
g. Batch Arbitration. You and We agree that, in the event that there are fifty (50) or more individual requests for arbitration of a similar nature filed against Us within an approximately thirty (30) day period (or otherwise in close proximity) regardless of the state(s) in which such claims are filed, JAMS will administer all such similarly situated arbitration demands on a collective basis as a single, consolidated arbitration (subject to a single set of fees, proceeding schedule, and, if required, hearing) before a single arbitrator in accordance with the requirements outlined elsewhere in this section, provided that — in the event that the arbitrator deems it impracticable or inequitable to administer all such claims collectively in a single arbitration — the arbitrator may group demands for arbitration into groups of not fewer than twenty (20) matters, plus a remainder group as needed (or as otherwise deemed by the arbitrator to be practicable, equitable, and in best keeping with the spirit of this provision) and arbitrate each group of matters as a single, consolidated arbitration (either structure a “Batch Arbitration”). You and We agree (1) to work with JAMS in good faith to facilitate the resolution of disputes on a Batch Arbitration basis and (2) that requests for arbitration are of a “similar nature” if they arise out of the same event, agreement, or factual scenario and raise the same or similar legal issues and seek the same or similar relief. Disagreements over the applicability of this Batch Arbitration process will be settled in a single, consolidated arbitration proceeding that includes all affected parties and is resolved by a single arbitrator subject to the requirements of this section. This Batch Arbitration provision shall in no way be interpreted as authorizing a class or collective arbitration or action of any kind, or any suit or arbitration involving joint or consolidated claims, under any circumstances other than those expressly set forth in this section.
h. Severability. If any part or parts of this Arbitration Agreement are found under the law to be invalid or unenforceable, then such specific part or parts will be of no force and effect and will be severed, and the remainder of the Arbitration Agreement will continue in full force and effect.
i. Survival. This Arbitration Agreement will survive the termination of your relationship with Us.
j. Modification. Notwithstanding any provision in these Terms to the contrary, We agree that if We make any future material change to this Arbitration Agreement, it will not apply to any individual claim(s) for which you had already provided notice to Us.
k. Public injunctive relief. Nothing in this section 14 waives, or is intended to waive, your right to seek public injunctive relief. If you assert a claim for public injunctive relief, that claim alone will be severed from the arbitration and stayed pending the conclusion of the arbitration of your individual claims, and the remainder of this section 14 will continue to apply to those individual claims.
l. Your right to opt out. You may decline this Arbitration Agreement. To do so, write to Something Better, Inc., 19528 Ventura Blvd, Ste 472, Los Angeles, CA 91356, or email help@govfacts.org, within thirty (30) days of the date you first accept these Terms, giving your name and stating that you decline to arbitrate. If you opt out, this section 14 does not apply to you and nothing else in these Terms changes. Opting out of this Arbitration Agreement has no effect on any other arbitration agreement between us.
m. Consumer protections. Where you are a consumer, the JAMS Consumer Arbitration Minimum Standards apply to this Arbitration Agreement and control over any term of it that conflicts with them. In particular, and notwithstanding subsections (a), (b) and (c): you will not be required to pay any fee or cost We incur in the arbitration except where the law under which you bring your claim independently allows such an award; the one-year period in subsection (a) does not shorten any limitations period that applicable law does not permit to be shortened by agreement; and any remedy otherwise available to you under applicable federal, state, or local law remains available to you in the arbitration.
15. Severability
If a court of competent jurisdiction determines that any clause or provision of these Terms is illegal, invalid or unenforceable under present or future law, such clause or provision shall be deemed to be deleted and severed from these Terms without affecting the enforceability of all remaining clauses or provisions.
16. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, without regard to its conflict of law provisions. Any claim that section 14 does not cover, or that you have opted out of under section 14(l), will be brought only in the state or federal courts located in Los Angeles County, California, and you and we each consent to the jurisdiction of those courts.
17. Accessibility
We aim to meet WCAG 2.1 Level AA across this Website and the GovAsk assistant. If you encounter a barrier, tell us at help@govfacts.org and we will work with you to provide the information you need in a form you can use.
18. Contact Us
If you have any questions about these Terms or otherwise need to contact GovFacts for any reason, you can reach us at help@govfacts.org. You can also write to us at Something Better, Inc., 19528 Ventura Blvd, Ste 472, Los Angeles, CA 91356.
Section 1 explains how we change these Terms. Your continued use of the Website following the posting of changes will mean that you accept and agree to the changes. As long as you comply with these Terms, GovFacts grants you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, limited privilege to enter and use the Website.