Lawmakers at Odds on Funding WisconsinEye As Time Running Out

Time is running out for efforts to keep WisconsinEye — Wisconsin’s version of C-SPAN — on the air.

The nonprofit has been broadcasting legislative hearings, floor sessions, press conferences and state Supreme Court proceedings since 2007. In mid-December, it went offline because it ran out of money, and its archive of more than 10,000 hours of recordings was unavailable.State lawmakers approved $50,000 to keep WisconsinEye’s stream flowing this month. And last month, lawmakers from both parties celebrated a tentative deal to keep the network going over the long haul.

The trick is, leaders in the Assembly and Senate are backing different plans. If they can’t resolve those differences before they adjourn, nothing will become law.

A compromise bill introduced by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, and Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, would create a $10 million endowment with interest payments supplementing WisconsinEye’s budget. It would also require the organization to add members to its board of directors chosen by legislative leaders. It passed the Assembly on Tuesday last week with a rare 96-0 vote.

Then on Wednesday, Senate Republicans introduced their own plan. It doesn’t include any money for WisconsinEye and instead creates a competitive bidding process to decide who runs Capitol coverage.

During a public hearing on Thursday before the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Revenue, Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, who chairs the panel, said there’s been “frustration with the current leadership team” at WisconsinEye because lawmakers haven’t gotten answers to their questions.

Sen. Julian Bradley, R-New Berlin, said his bill requiring bids to be submitted ensures lawmakers would get those answers and that the state is “getting the best deal if we are, in fact, having to use taxpayer dollars on a regular basis” to fund coverage of the Legislature.

Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, said time is running out to fund WisconsinEye and while he doesn’t think the Assembly bill is perfect, it’s the “farthest along in the process.”

“We could hear it, we could amend it, (and) send it back to them,” said Spreitzer.

Vos has said the Assembly is planning to hold its final floor session on Feb. 19. If he sticks to that plan, any changes the Senate makes to the WisconsinEye bill would need to be approved by the Assembly by next week.

Bradley wasn’t concerned about timing and said, “regardless of the time crunch,” requiring competitive bids is the right step at this time. He said the bidding process under his bill could move quickly, there’s a chance WisconsinEye could be the only applicant and “we will have a leg up and be ready to go for January of 2027” when legislative activity will “be at its peak.”

WisconsinEye President Jon Henkes declined to comment on the Senate and Assembly bills as they work through the Legislature.

Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council President Bill Lueders told WPR that people depend on WisconsinEye, and there was optimism about Assembly Republicans and Democrats coming together to help keep it afloat.

“But now it looks like this competing proposal from the Senate might bollocks things up,” said Lueders. “That’s not good for anyone.”

Listen to the WPR report

Lawmakers at odds about funding WisconsinEye, putting its future in question was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.