diff --git a/.DS_Store b/.DS_Store
index 5235de3..8499cec 100644
Binary files a/.DS_Store and b/.DS_Store differ
diff --git a/R/.DS_Store b/R/.DS_Store
index fddade1..f88b589 100644
Binary files a/R/.DS_Store and b/R/.DS_Store differ
diff --git a/R/getMasterlist.R b/R/getMasterlist.R
index 4938fd1..9715fdc 100644
--- a/R/getMasterlist.R
+++ b/R/getMasterlist.R
@@ -34,18 +34,36 @@ getMasterList <- function(session = NULL, state = NULL, legiKey = NULL){
     }
   }
 
-  req <- httr2::request(
-    "https://api.legiscan.com"
-  ) |>
-    httr2::req_url_query(
-      key = legiKey,
-      op = op,
-      state = state,
-      id = session,
-      .multi = "explode"
+  tryCatch({
+    req <- httr2::request(
+      "https://api.legiscan.com"
     ) |>
-    httr2::req_perform() |>
-    httr2::resp_body_json()
-  print(req$masterlist$session$session_name)
-  return(dplyr::bind_rows(req$masterlist[-1]))
+      httr2::req_url_query(
+        key = legiKey,
+        op = op,
+        state = state,
+        id = session,
+        .multi = "explode"
+      ) |>
+      httr2::req_perform()
+
+    status <- httr2::resp_status(req)
+    if (status != 200) {
+      stop(sprintf("API request failed with status code: %d", status))
+    }
+
+    response <- httr2::resp_body_json(req)
+
+    if (!is.null(response$status)) {
+      if (response$status != "OK") {
+        stop(sprintf("API returned error: %s", response$alert))
+      }
+    }
+
+    print(response$masterlist$session$session_name)
+    return(dplyr::bind_rows(response$masterlist[-1]))
+
+  }, error = function(e) {
+    stop(sprintf("Error in API request: %s", e$message))
+  })
 }
diff --git a/R/getSessions.R b/R/getSessions.R
index 75ecf89..1206a06 100644
--- a/R/getSessions.R
+++ b/R/getSessions.R
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 #' getSessions(state = "MA")
 #'
 #' @export
-getSessions <- function(state = "TX", legiKey = NULL){
+getSessions <- function(state = NULL, legiKey = NULL){
   op <- "getSessionlist"
 
   if (is.null(legiKey)){