Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell said she supports the will of the voters in approving Question 1, which gives the state auditor authority to audit the Legislature, but her office is waiting to take any action.
Some legislators have said they will alter the question, arguing the amendment violates the constitution’s separation of powers. State Auditor Diana DiZoglio took to social media earlier this month to call on the attorney general to step in and prevent legislators from changing the law as approved by voters.
“Right now I have the auditor pushing for our office to get involved. There is no role for our office to play right now,” Campbell told Boston Public Radio on Tuesday.
The question passed by voters does not go into effect until 30 days after the election. Then, the Legislature can respond to the auditor’s requests. If there is a dispute, either party can seek to resolve it through litigation. Only then would Campbell’s office get involved.
“But right now, we’re dealing with nothing but hypotheticals,” she said.
Campbell said she supports more government transparency, citing her time on Boston City Council when she worked to expand the public records law.
While Campbell is supportive of the ballot question, she said her office does not think a provision in the $4 billion jobs bill should have passed. This was a provision that effectively protects BlueHub Capital, a Roxbury nonprofit that issued shared appreciation mortgages. The company was sued in 2020 over predatory lending allegations, according to the Boston Globe. Legislators signed the bill into law on Nov. 20.
“There are some things, of course, in the econ bill that we appreciated. We worked with the governor on, we worked with the state Legislature on. But on this particular provision, we did not think it should have passed,” Campbell said.
“If you give one product or one company an exemption, you open up the floodgates potentially for others to also then begin to seek out an exemption. And that’s concerning to us,” she said.
BlueHub filed a notice of supplemental authority with the Suffolk Superior Court on Nov. 26, asking to dismiss the case. They argued that the jobs bill went into effect during an emergency preamble, meaning the legislation is retroactive and would wipe out ongoing litigation against them.
At the time of the Boston Public Radio interview, Campbell said she was not aware of the notice. The attorney general’s office is also still reviewing the language in the jobs bill, which gives the role of regulation to the attorney general.
“Give us a little bit of time. And we’ll also have to review what summary judgment motion they actually filed. I haven’t seen it yet,” she said.
