Question 1: Both sides explain the push to audit the Massachusetts Legislature

Massachusetts’ state auditor has the ability to audit government entities and contractors. But it’s been a point of debate whether that office should also have authority to audit the Massachusetts Legislature.

Ballot Question 1, if approved, would grant the state auditor the authority to review legislators’ documents and accounts.

GBH’s Morning Edition hosts Paris Alston and Jeremy Siegel spoke with GBH News’ State House reporter Katie Lannan and with advocates on both sides of the ballot question.

What Question 1 would change in Massachusetts

The type of audit that typically comes to mind is financial audit. What Diana DiZoglio has proposed is broader than that.

“It’s not just looking at what they spend and where they spend it,” Lannan said. “She wants to look at legislative processes, how lawmakers are appointed to committees, how the rules are set, and kind of how the Legislature works as a body.”

Currently, the state auditor can audit the Legislature only if they consent to it. That’s not unusual. Tufts’ Center for State Policy Analysis found no comparable examples across the United States where an auditor successfully probed the state’s legislature without their consent.

GBH News is interviewing people on both sides of each ballot question. Come back for more explainers ahead of Nov. 5.

Why supporters want a ‘yes’ vote on Question 1

When Auditor Diana DiZoglio ran for her position in 2022, one of her major campaign promises was to audit the Massachusetts Legislature. She argued that power was already within the bounds of the auditor’s office. But after lawmakers and the attorney general disagreed, she decided to put the question in front of voters.

“We do have one of the least transparent state legislatures in the entire nation,” DiZoglio told GBH’s Morning Edition. “And that’s been almost every good government group that’s ranked them in that way. And they’ve also been called one of the least effective.”

Lannan said it’s true that Massachusetts is regarded as having one of the least transparent state legislatures. Among the reasons: Open meeting laws don’t apply to the Legislature, they can keep their committee votes private, and the conference committees that iron out final bills meet behind closed doors.

DiZoglio said it’s the state auditor’s job to make government work better. To do that, she said the auditor’s office needs to be able to “shine a light on the dark areas of state government” and provide recommendations.

Why opponents are urging a ‘no’ vote on Question 1

Top lawmakers — notably House Speaker Ron Mariano and Senate President Karen Spilka — are opposed to this, but they’re not formally running a campaign against it. Criticism of Question 1 largely comes down to the state constitution’s requirement that there be separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches.

Northeastern law professor Jeremy Paul worries that giving the auditor the power to audit the Legislature would limit the freedom lawmakers have to do their jobs, and could be used to slow down progress on bills that the auditor’s office doesn’t want to see advance.

“I mean, imagine if you are in the Legislature and there’s that official from the executive branch looking over your shoulder,” he said. “The next thing you know, I’m going to dump a heap of document requests on you and you’re going to be tied up in answering my whims rather than doing the people’s business.”

Lannan said lawmakers are also concerned about how this power would limit their ability to have confidential discussions.

“You definitely hear from lawmakers that the confidentiality — the closed-door nature of how they negotiate final deals on bills — is a crucial part of the deal-making process, that they need to be able to to speak freely, to trade ideas, to go back and forth and try to find a solution that works for everyone,” she said.