diff --git a/scripts/ak/get_legislation.py b/scripts/ak/get_legislation.py
index f026b93ef6..7d449fe403 100755
--- a/scripts/ak/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/ak/get_legislation.py
@@ -191,4 +191,4 @@ def scrape_bills(self, chamber, year):
         self.scrape_session(chamber, year)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    AKLegislationScraper().run()
+    AKLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/al/get_legislation.py b/scripts/al/get_legislation.py
index c38effceb9..ee815a31e8 100755
--- a/scripts/al/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/al/get_legislation.py
@@ -211,4 +211,4 @@ def unescape(self,s):
 		return re.sub('&(%s);' % '|'.join(name2codepoint), lambda m: unichr(name2codepoint[m.group(1)]), s)
 		
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    ALLegislationScraper().run()
+    ALLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/ct/get_legislation.py b/scripts/ct/get_legislation.py
index 1db83af9ea..af86f77e56 100755
--- a/scripts/ct/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/ct/get_legislation.py
@@ -319,4 +319,4 @@ def get_baby(soup):
     pass
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    CTLegislationScraper().run()
+    CTLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/fl/get_legislation.py b/scripts/fl/get_legislation.py
index f33bf39678..8334e7ee6e 100755
--- a/scripts/fl/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/fl/get_legislation.py
@@ -219,4 +219,4 @@ def split_name(self, full):
         return (last, first, middle)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    FLLegislationScraper().run()
+    FLLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/ga/get_legislation.py b/scripts/ga/get_legislation.py
index 47723c1ec5..efa0df749e 100755
--- a/scripts/ga/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/ga/get_legislation.py
@@ -350,4 +350,4 @@ def scrape2009(self, url, year, chamberName, session, number):
         self.add_bill(bill)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    GALegislationScraper().run()
+    GALegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/ky/get_legislation.py b/scripts/ky/get_legislation.py
index 52908217ae..cbd12b6823 100755
--- a/scripts/ky/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/ky/get_legislation.py
@@ -187,4 +187,4 @@ def parse_legislator(self, chamber, year, full_name, district, url):
             self.add_legislator(legislator)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    KYLegislationScraper().run()
+    KYLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/la/get_legislation.py b/scripts/la/get_legislation.py
index 5d44e5617f..673eb8fe91 100755
--- a/scripts/la/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/la/get_legislation.py
@@ -254,4 +254,4 @@ def unescape(self,s):
         return re.sub('&(%s);' % '|'.join(name2codepoint), lambda m: unichr(name2codepoint[m.group(1)]), s).encode('ascii', 'ignore')
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    LouisianaScraper().run({'upper': LANameMatcher, 'lower': LANameMatcher})
+    LouisianaScraper.run({'upper': LANameMatcher, 'lower': LANameMatcher})
diff --git a/scripts/me/get_legislation.py b/scripts/me/get_legislation.py
index 1252111daf..617fe4d9f4 100755
--- a/scripts/me/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/me/get_legislation.py
@@ -50,4 +50,4 @@ def scrape_bills(self, chamber, year):
             self.scrape_session(chamber, year, special)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    MELegislationScraper().run()
+    MELegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/mn/get_legislation.py b/scripts/mn/get_legislation.py
index 34860edc9b..cb12ecaac0 100755
--- a/scripts/mn/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/mn/get_legislation.py
@@ -286,4 +286,4 @@ def scrape_bills(self, chamber, year):
             self.scrape_session(chamber, session, session_year, session_number, legislative_session)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    MNLegislationScraper().run()
+    MNLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/mo/get_legislation.py b/scripts/mo/get_legislation.py
index d4fa9352c5..13c5545e48 100755
--- a/scripts/mo/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/mo/get_legislation.py
@@ -339,4 +339,4 @@ def parse_house_cosponsors(self, bill, cell):
                     raise e
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    MOLegislationScraper().run()
+    MOLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/nc/get_legislation.py b/scripts/nc/get_legislation.py
index 955ae308fe..033f8fba28 100755
--- a/scripts/nc/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/nc/get_legislation.py
@@ -196,4 +196,4 @@ def scrape_legislators(self, chamber, year):
                 self.add_legislator(legislator)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    NCLegislationScraper().run()
+    NCLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/nd/get_legislation.py b/scripts/nd/get_legislation.py
index cf9d728523..601e3f91e4 100755
--- a/scripts/nd/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/nd/get_legislation.py
@@ -537,4 +537,4 @@ def scrape_bill_sponsors(self, assembly_url):
         return (bill_sponsors, url)
     
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    NDLegislationScraper().run()
+    NDLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/nh/get_legislation.py b/scripts/nh/get_legislation.py
index 32e52a5cb8..8188e656a8 100755
--- a/scripts/nh/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/nh/get_legislation.py
@@ -114,4 +114,4 @@ def scrape_bills(self, chamber, year):
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    NHLegislationScraper().run()
+    NHLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/pa/get_legislation.py b/scripts/pa/get_legislation.py
index 06da98d522..bbc0c428c2 100755
--- a/scripts/pa/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/pa/get_legislation.py
@@ -283,4 +283,4 @@ def scrape_legislators(self, chamber, year):
                 self.add_legislator(legislator)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    PALegislationScraper().run()
+    PALegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/python_template/get_legislation.py b/scripts/python_template/get_legislation.py
index 240e43c8bf..070f808809 100644
--- a/scripts/python_template/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/python_template/get_legislation.py
@@ -14,4 +14,4 @@ def scrape_bills(self,chamber,year):
         pass
     
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    MyScraper().run()
+    MyScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/pyutils/legislation.py b/scripts/pyutils/legislation.py
index f6f99a0bed..cdaa96bea6 100755
--- a/scripts/pyutils/legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/pyutils/legislation.py
@@ -83,20 +83,29 @@ class LegislationScraper(object):
     # state's logs):
     user_agent = 'robot: http://fiftystates-dev.sunlightlabs.com/'
 
-    def __init__(self):
+    def __init__(self, verbosity=logging.INFO, sleep=False,
+                 no_cache=False, output_dir=None, **kwargs):
         if not hasattr(self, 'state'):
             raise Exception('LegislationScrapers must have a state attribute')
         self._cookie_jar = cookielib.CookieJar()
 
+        self.reset_name_matchers()
+
+        self.sleep = sleep
+        self.no_cache = no_cache
+        self.requests = 0
+
+        self.output_dir = output_dir or os.path.join('data', self.state)
         self.cache_dir = os.path.join('cache', self.state)
-        self.output_dir = os.path.join('data', self.state)
         self.error_dir = os.path.join('errors', self.state)
+        self._init_dirs()
 
         self.logger = logging.getLogger("fiftystates")
         formatter = logging.Formatter("%(asctime)s %(levelname)s " + self.state + " %(message)s")
         console = logging.StreamHandler()
         console.setFormatter(formatter)
         self.logger.addHandler(console)
+        self.logger.setLevel(verbosity)
 
         # Convenience methods
         self.log = self.logger.info
@@ -201,7 +210,7 @@ def soup_context(self, url):
     def _make_headers(self):
         return {'User-Agent': self.user_agent}
 
-    def init_dirs(self):
+    def _init_dirs(self):
 
         def makedir(path):
             try:
@@ -303,27 +312,31 @@ def write_metadata(self):
                   'w') as f:
             json.dump(metadata, f, cls=DateEncoder)
 
-    def run(self, matcher=None):
+    def reset_name_matchers(self, upper=None, lower=None):
+        self.matcher = {}
+        self.matcher['upper'] = upper or NameMatcher()
+        self.matcher['lower'] = lower or NameMatcher()
+
+    @classmethod
+    def run(cls, matcher=None):
+        """
+        Create and run a scraper for this state, based on
+        command line options.
+        """
         parser = OptionParser(
-            option_list=self.option_list)
+            option_list=cls.option_list)
         options, spares = parser.parse_args()
-        self.no_cache = options.no_cache
-        self.sleep = options.sleep
-        self.requests = 0
 
         if options.verbose == 0:
-            level = logging.WARNING
+            verbosity = logging.WARNING
         elif options.verbose == 1:
-            level = logging.INFO
+            verbosity = logging.INFO
         else:
-            level = logging.DEBUG
-        self.logger.setLevel(level)
+            verbosity = logging.DEBUG
 
-        if options.output_dir:
-            self.output_dir = options.output_dir
+        scraper = cls(verbosity=verbosity, **vars(options))
 
-        self.init_dirs()
-        self.write_metadata()
+        scraper.write_metadata()
 
         years = options.years
         if options.all_years:
@@ -341,15 +354,16 @@ def run(self, matcher=None):
             chambers = ['upper', 'lower']
         for year in years:
             if matcher is None:
-                self.matcher = {'upper': NameMatcher(), 'lower': NameMatcher()}  
+                scraper.reset_name_matchers()
             else:
-                self.matcher = {'upper': matcher['upper'](), 'lower': matcher['lower']()} 
+                scraper.reset_name_matchers(upper=matcher['upper'](),
+                                            lower=matcher['lower']())
             try:
                for chamber in chambers:
-                    self.scrape_legislators(chamber, year)
+                    scraper.scrape_legislators(chamber, year)
                for chamber in chambers:
-                    self.old_bills = {}
-                    self.scrape_bills(chamber, year)
+                    scraper.old_bills = {}
+                    scraper.scrape_bills(chamber, year)
             except NoDataForYear, e:
                 if options.all_years:
                     pass
diff --git a/scripts/sd/get_legislation.py b/scripts/sd/get_legislation.py
index bd6288b35f..423584a343 100755
--- a/scripts/sd/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/sd/get_legislation.py
@@ -441,4 +441,4 @@ def scrape_legislators(self, chamber, year):
             self.scrape_old_legislators(chamber, year)
         
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    SDLegislationScraper().run()
+    SDLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/tx/get_legislation.py b/scripts/tx/get_legislation.py
index 4a4acb4f3b..e8ef5be3d3 100755
--- a/scripts/tx/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/tx/get_legislation.py
@@ -122,4 +122,4 @@ def scrape_bills(self, chamber, year):
             self.scrape_session(chamber, session)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    TXLegislationScraper().run()
+    TXLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/ut/get_legislation.py b/scripts/ut/get_legislation.py
index d5cc7ef08c..977a35a609 100755
--- a/scripts/ut/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/ut/get_legislation.py
@@ -226,4 +226,4 @@ def scrape_bills(self, chamber, year):
             self.scrape_session(chamber, sub_session)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    UTLegislationScraper().run()
+    UTLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/va/get_legislation.py b/scripts/va/get_legislation.py
index d8a0aa5859..c9802d2476 100755
--- a/scripts/va/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/va/get_legislation.py
@@ -307,4 +307,4 @@ def unescape(self,s):
         return s.replace(' ', ' ')
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    VALegislationScraper().run({'upper': VANameMatcher, 'lower': VANameMatcher})
+    VALegislationScraper.run(matcher={'upper': VANameMatcher, 'lower': VANameMatcher})
diff --git a/scripts/vt/get_legislation.py b/scripts/vt/get_legislation.py
index 17b9ffca5d..e1f6000ac1 100755
--- a/scripts/vt/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/vt/get_legislation.py
@@ -302,4 +302,4 @@ def scrape_legislators(self, chamber, year):
             self.add_legislator(leg)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    VTLegislationScraper().run()
+    VTLegislationScraper.run()
diff --git a/scripts/wv/get_legislation.py b/scripts/wv/get_legislation.py
index 0c79d26218..0921cfe546 100755
--- a/scripts/wv/get_legislation.py
+++ b/scripts/wv/get_legislation.py
@@ -156,4 +156,4 @@ def scrape_bill(self, chamber, session, billid, histurl, year):
         self.add_bill(bill)
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
-    WVLegislationScraper().run()
+    WVLegislationScraper.run()