SB 994 — Relating to: public affairs network request for proposals.

CORRECTED COPY - 2026 LEGISLATURE LRBa1107/1LRB-6386/1 MPG:skw&wljMPG:skw SENATE AMENDMENT 1, TO SENATE BILL 994 February 18,11, 2026 - OfferedIntroduced by SenatRADLEY.Senators B RADLEY , LEM AHIEU , ELZKOWSKI , FEYEN , TESTIN, MARKLEIN , CABRAL -GUEVARA , TOMCZYK , H UTTON , ACQUE , JAMES , NASS, QUINN , STAFSHOLT and WANGGAARD , cosponsored by Representatives BRILL, W ICHGERS , GUSTAFSON and K REIBICH .

AtReferred theto locationsCommittee indicated,on amendAgriculture theand billRevenue. as follows:

A N A CT relating to:

public affairs network request for proposals.

Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau This bill requires the Department of Administration to issue a request for proposals to solicit bids on a contract for the operation of a public affairs network in Wisconsin.

Under the bill, the contract must include all of the following requirements and prohibitions:

PageThe 1,public lineaffairs 1:network must provide unedited live video and audio coverage, including online, of state government proceedings.

afterState “proposals”government insertproceedings “andinclude fundingfloor forsessions of the WisconsinEyesenate Publicand Affairsassembly, Network,meetings Inc”.of legislative committees, meetings of executive branch agencies, supreme court and other judicial proceedings, news conferences by legislators or other state government officials, and related civic events.

Under the bill, in making coverage decisions, the public affairs network must prioritize floor sessions of the senate and assembly, meetings of legislative committees, meetings of executive branch agencies, and supreme court and other judicial proceedings and may, if practicable, provide coverage of eligible news conferences and civic events.

PageThe 3,public lineaffairs 13:network must provide coverage by live stream online of all legislative proceedings that are open to the public.

after3. that line insert:

“(c) The deadlinepublic foraffairs submittingnetwork proposalsmust inpermanently responsemaintain and provide online public access to theunedited requestdigital forarchives proposalsof underall par.of its coverage of all such state government proceedings.

(b)4. shall be June 30, 2026.

No laterfee thanmay Julybe 15,charged 2026,to theaccess departmentlive ofor administrationarchived shallcoverage submit to the chief clerk of eachfloor housesessions of the legislaturesenate forand distributionassembly toor meetings of the legislatureJoint underCommittee s.on Finance.

13.172- (2)2026 eachLegislature proposal- submitted2 to- theLRB-6386/1 departmentMPG:skw inSENATE responseBILL to994 theS requestECTION for1 proposals5. under par.

(b).The public affairs network must be strictly nonpartisan.

The6. department may include its own recommendations with that submission.

(2)The TEMPORARYpublic FUNDINGaffairs FORnetwork Wmust ISCONSINEYE.provide that its coverage may not be used for campaign purposes.

-The 2026people Legislatureof -the 2state -of LRBa1107/1Wisconsin, MPG:skw&wljrepresented (a)in Insenate thisand subsection,assembly, “WisconsinEye”do meansenact theas WisconsinEyefollows: Public Affairs Network, Inc.

(b)SECTION No1. later than 10 days after the effective date of this paragraph, the secretary of administration and WisconsinEye shall submit a joint request to the joint committee on finance for a grant totaling $585,630.60 under s.

16.004Nonstatutory (22)provisions. (b).

If(1) approvedPUBLIC byAFFAIRS theNETWORK;REQUEST jointFOR committeePROPOSALS on. finance, the secretary of administration shall pay the grant to WisconsinEye in 12 consecutive monthly installments of $48,802.55 each.

However,(a) theIn secretarythis shallsubsection, cease“state paymentsgovernment proceedings” includes floor sessions of the grantsenate authorizedand underassembly, thismeetings paragraphof iflegislative acommittees, newmeetings publicof affairsexecutive networkbranch isagencies, selectedsupreme incourt connectionand withother thejudicial requestproceedings, fornews proposalsconferences underby sub.legislators or other government officials relating to legislative, judicial, or executive branch official business, and civic events directly related to legislative, judicial, or executive branch official business.

(1)(b) No later than 30 days after the effective date of this paragraph, the department of administration shall issue a request for proposals or ifother WisconsinEyeprocurement failsdocument to maintainsolicit andbids provideon livea broadcastscontract for the operation of statea governmentpublic proceedingsaffairs andnetwork onlinein publicthis accessstate.The tocontract itsshall uneditedinclude digitalall archives.of the following requirements and prohibitions:

(c)1. As a condition for receiving any payment under par.

(b),The WisconsinEyepublic shallaffairs appointnetwork toshall itsprovide boardunedited oflive directorsvideo one designee each of the speaker of the assembly, minority leader of the assembly, majority leader of the senate, and minorityaudio leadercoverage, ofincluding theonline, senate, except that no designee under this paragraph may be a member of thestate legislature.”.government proceedings.

(ENDIn )making coverage decisions under this subdivision, the public affairs network shall prioritize floor sessions of the senate and assembly, meetings of legislative committees, meetings of executive branch agencies, and supreme court and other judicial proceedings and may, to the extent practicable, provide coverage of news conferences by legislators or other government officials relating to legislative, judicial, or executive branch - 2026 Legislature - 3 - LRB-6386/1 MPG:skw SENATE BILL 994 SECTION 1 official business and civic events directly related to legislative, judicial, or executive branch official business.

2.

The public affairs network shall provide coverage by live stream online of all legislative proceedings that are open to the public.

3.

The public affairs network shall permanently maintain and provide online public access to unedited digital archives of all of its coverage specified in subds.

1.

and 2.

4.

The public affairs network may not charge any fee to access live or archived coverage of floor sessions of the senate and assembly or meetings of the joint committee on finance.

5.

The public affairs network shall be strictly nonpartisan.

6.

The public affairs network shall provide that its coverage may not be used for campaign purposes.

(END)