MADISON – Today the Wisconsin State Assembly floor session was not live streamed or recorded and made available to the public for the first time in 19 years due to a lack of funding for WisconsinEye, the entity responsible for recording and documenting state legislature proceedings. This follows a week of Committee hearings that were also not recorded due to the lapse of funding, and after legislative Republicans announced they would be enforcing a rule barring video or audio recording in legislative committees and floor sessions. Representative Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) released the following statement:
“The Wisconsin State Legislature is operating in darkness. Today Wisconsinites could not watch the Assembly floor voting session for the first time in almost 20 years. This was after a week full of Committee hearings that were also unavailable for Wisconsinites to watch online, including when the hearing room was deemed full and people were forced to wait outside. We are watching Republican lawmakers eclipse public access, and in the process–eliminate government transparency Wisconsinites deserve.
“The people of Wisconsin deserve better transparency, accountability, and accessibility from their legislature. On behalf of the people I have sworn to serve, I demand that Republican lawmakers join Democrats in finding a solution to fund WisconsinEye or replace it with a state program to broadcast what’s happening in our legislature. We must act with urgency.
“It is unacceptable that there is no independent media to broadcast our debate, committee hearings, floor votes, and other proceedings. And, it is unacceptable for legislative Republican leadership to bar the public, the members of the legislature, and their staff from recording legislative proceedings.
“In the meantime I will continue to ask–what are Republican lawmakers trying to hide? Bills on important issues like gun safety, reproductive rights, sexual misconduct, and more are being heard and voted on in the Assembly. Wisconsinites deserve to see what the government they voted for is doing. We must find a solution to restore public access to legislative proceedings soon, so we can move Wisconsin forward, together.”
Rep. Vining represents the 13th Assembly District, which includes Elm Grove, and parts of Wauwatosa and Brookfield. For more information visit Rep. Vining’s website here.
