Massachusetts voters want State Auditor Diana DiZoglio to audit the Legislature.
Ballot Question 1, which would allow such an audit, has passed, according to The Associated Press. With voters siding with DiZoglio, the ball is in the Legislature’s court. They could comply with the audit or fight it in the courts.
DiZoglio argued that the state’s legislative body lacks transparency, saying the body is “frequently ranked as one of the least transparent, least accessible, and least accountable in the nation — not subject to public records laws, not subject to open meeting laws, bills getting passed in the middle of the night with no recorded roll calls.”
A WBUR/Commonwealth Beacon poll from September showed strong support for the measure, with more than seven in 10 respondents saying they would vote in favor of the question.
Legislative leaders, meanwhile, were less welcoming of the idea, saying DiZoglio has no constitutional authority to audit another branch of government. House Speaker Ron Mariano said he’d vote “no” on the question. Other legal scholars agreed, saying such reviews would disrupt the separation of powers between the branches.
Former Auditor Suzanne Bump also opposed the measure, saying it went further than her own efforts to audit aspects of the Legislature’s work.
DiZoglio tried — and failed — to audit the Legislature in 2023, when her request for documentation was rebuffed by chamber leaders. She appealed to Attorney General Andrea Campbell for some clarification on her powers. But Campbell sided with House and Senate leadership, saying state law would not allow DiZoglio to perform such an inspection without the Legislature’s consent.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2024 WBUR
