Lawmakers to vote on $250k infusion for WisEye streaming service

Jul 27, 2026 | 5:50 pm ET

By Erik Gunn

Lawmakers to vote on $250k infusion for WisEye streaming service

WisconsinEye Board of Directors Chair Mark O’Connell testifies at a hearing in February in favor of funding for WisconsinEye, the state streaming service that covers the Wisconsin Legislature. That legislation has died, but this week lawmakers are voting on $250,000 to fund the service through the end of 2026. (Screenshot via WisconsinEye)

Wisconsin lawmakers are voting this week to fund WisconsinEye through the end of 2026 with $250,000.

The funding would support the service, which provides livestream coverage of floor sessions in the Legislature as well as public hearings and votes held by Senate and Assembly committees, as it continues to seek long-term funding to operate.

Members of the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization received paper ballots Monday to vote on a proposal to send WisconsinEye $50,000 per month starting in August and ending in December. The cost would be split between the Assembly and the Senate.

The ballots are due at 5 p.m. Tuesday. Funding would come from appropriations in the budget to carry out the functions of each chamber, including expenses for legislative documents, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Council, a nonpartisan service agency for the Legislature.

WisEye CEO Jon Henkes could not be reached for comment Monday on the potential impact of the funding if it is approved as expected.

WisconsinEye launched as an independent nonprofit in 2007 to livestream and archive government meetings and legislative sessions. The service has operated on donations and runs independently from the state Legislature.

WisconsinEye’s management announced in November 2025 that it needed additional revenue to support the service’s $900,000 annual budget after donations fell behind in the last couple of years.

Henkes told the Wisconsin Examiner at the time that contributions haven’t kept up with expenses since the COVID-19 pandemic. WisEye temporarily halted coverage Dec. 15, 2025. It resumed coverage Feb. 2, 2026, after the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization authorized $50,000 to cover the service for that month.

Two separate proposals to fund the service passed earlier this year, one in the Assembly and the other in the Senate, but neither one got a vote in the opposite chamber.

WisEye launched a GoFundMe campaign in January with a goal of raising $250,000. In a July 15 fundraising email, WisEye said it had raised nearly half of that goal and needed $130,000 “to maintain operations for the next few months.”