Average members of the public are barred from recording their lawmakers in public hearings held at the Wisconsin State Capitol under new enforcement of a longstanding rule by Republican legislative leaders.
The enforcement was covered in a story that appeared in the Jan. 12, 2026 issue of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. According to the story:
The rule governing filming of public business in the Capitol is not new but has not been widely enforced until now, when WisconsinEye ceased operations. Average members of the public have previously been barred from filming their lawmakers debating important issues in committee hearings.
A spokesman for Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said the enforcement is “simply reaffirming the long-established rules of the Assembly” now that the WisconsinEye service has stopped covering Capitol events.
Vos spokesman Luke Wolff said credentialed media are still allowed to attend and record committee meetings.
Some Democrats in the Legislature are opposed to the enforcement, including Senate Minority Leader Diane Hesselbein and Senator Kelda Roys.
The Assembly and Senate each have rules that contain generally similar provisions related to the recording of hearings. The Senate rule adopted in 2005 allows members of the press who are credentialed through the Legislature. Senate staffers have required some news media members to show their credentials this week to bring a camera or recording device into hearing rooms in the Capitol.
Members of the public have already been barred from recording floor sessions — a policy strictly enforced each floor session.
State law says that lawmakers “shall make a reasonable effort to accommodate any person desiring to record, film or photograph the meeting.”
Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council Bill Lueders said the policy has not been widely enforced during his time in Wisconsin.
“I personally have taken recorders to legislative meetings and used them. I’ve taken recorders to Supreme Court hearings and used them,” Lueders said in an interview. “It’s something I’ve not ever heard of — anyone being denied permission to film or make an audio recording of a legislative proceeding.”
Senate Chief Clerk Cyrus Anderson wrote in a Jan. 7 memo that the Senate rule supplants the state’s Open Meetings Law.
“This rule generally prohibits members of the public from recording committee proceedings unless they are credentialed press, or have been otherwise approved by the Committee on Senate Organization,” Anderson wrote.
“The application and enforcement of this rule during a committee meeting is the responsibility of the chairperson of the committee, who may use some discretion on what standard to use to determine who is to be considered accredited correspondents,” Anderson wrote.
With the loss of WisconsinEye, this is the wrong time for lawmakers to enforce rules like this — even if written records votes are published online for the public to review.
“I think it’s an example of lawmakers shooting themselves in the foot,” Lueders said, “because the more that the public gets to see into the legislative process, the better, generally, public officials look.
“The public has a lot of misconceptions about public officials — that they’re lazy, that they’re stupid, that they’re incompetent,” Lueders added. “But if you go to these meetings . . . you’ll see a lot of smart things get said by a lot of smart people.”
