MA Ballot Question 2024: How Question 1 would change the power of the state auditor
In addition to deciding their pick for president of United States, Massachusetts voters in November will weigh in on five ballot initiatives. This is the first in a series of stories explaining each question of the Massachusetts Ballot Questions in the 2024 Election.
Question 1 asks voters whether the state auditor should be allowed to investigate the Legislature.
While audits are usually associated with financial questions, the state auditor is focused more on whether state departments and agencies are following existing laws and regulations pertaining to their functions. Auditor Diana DiZoglio, a former legislator who won election to her current job in 2022, has looked into a number of irregularities within state agencies, including the Cannabis Control Commission, to determine whether expired products had slipped past inspectors and been offered for sale to consumers.
DiZoglio says giving her office investigative power over the Legislature has broad support.
“Generally speaking, the question has been accepted by most folks, except the legislative leaders and their supporters,” she said.
But in November, Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell found that the auditor's office does not have the authority to investigate the legislative branch, a decision that was praised by House Speaker Ronald Mariano, D-Quincy, and Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland.
Proponents of the audit opted to pursue a ballot initiative and were able to amass enough signatures, almost 100,000, to ensure it met the requirements.
DiZoglio says the question is “a nonpartisan issue” that has been embraced across the political spectrum including by both the Democratic and Republican state political committees and both progressive and conservative organizations.
What does auditing the state legislature mean?
The Tisch College Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University found that passing the question could give the auditor tools to pressure the Legislature to act with greater clarity and in the public eye. However, it would not allow DiZoglio to delve into all legislative processes.
The auditor could investigate to determine how and where the Legislature is spending money, whether it complies with bidding laws and other regulations. It would not afford her license to examine votes, amendments to bills, committee appointments or operations, according to the Tufts analysis.
In other states where legislative audits are common, the scope is limited to routine operations like procurement and whether a body is following employee training standards. DiZoglio said the Massachusetts Legislature has been audited 117 times throughout history and has only recently balked at being in the spotlight.
Massachusetts legislature gets low grade for transparency
According to the Ballotpedia Legislative Data Report Card compiled by the Open States organization, Massachusetts is one of four states to earn an “F” when reviewing the adequacy, availability and accessibility of each state’s legislative data. Massachusetts shares the grade with Alabama, Kentucky and Nebraska.
“Voters are fed up with the lack of access to what’s happening behind closed doors in the state,” DiZoglio said.
Who is spending money on Question 1?
Supporters of the question have donated $410,220 to the Committee for Transparent Democracy to advance the effort, according to the Office of Political and Campaign Finance.
The Committee for a Transparent Democracy was formed in 2023. It has reported collecting mostly smaller donations but with some large chunks of money including $55,000 kicked in by the auditor herself. DiZoglio is collecting funds for the campaign through her website DianafourMA.com.
In addition, more than 600 volunteers hit the streets to garner the signatures to have the question placed on the November ballot.