In 2024, nearly 72% of voters approved a ballot question directing the State Auditor to conduct an audit of the Legislature. It was one of the most decisive ballot question victories in recent memory and reflected a growing demand for transparency and accountability on Beacon Hill.

The ballot question was not complicated. They approved an independent audit of the Legislature by their elected State Auditor. Voters did not approve a limited audit. They did not approve an audit restricted to records lawmakers choose to provide. They did not approve an audit whose scope would be rewritten after the election. 

Yet last week, the Massachusetts House voted to do exactly that.

With no public hearings and with almost no time for the public to review, House leaders rammed through legislation that would narrow the scope of the audit, limit what can be reviewed, and prevent courts from resolving disputes between the Auditor and the Legislature, ultimately leaving the power with the legislature. At the same time, supporters are presenting the proposal as a transparency package.

But even lawmakers supporting the bill have acknowledged that many of the public records provisions simply codify documents that are already available today. So what is actually changing?

The audit. That is exactly where the new restrictions are being added.

For more than a year, legislative leaders argued that constitutional questions prevented the audit from moving forward. Then the Supreme Judicial Court ruled that Auditor Diana DiZoglio could proceed with seeking records from the Legislature.

Instead of allowing that process to continue, House leadership responded by advancing legislation that rewrites what voters approved and redefines the scope of the audit law.

The question before the Senate is straightforward: Should the Legislature comply with the law voters passed, or should it rewrite that law when it becomes inconvenient?

The Massachusetts Senate now has an opportunity to stand with the voters who approved this law by an overwhelming margin by rejecting the House’s anti-transparency, anti-democratic rewrite of the audit law. Governor Maura Healey should do the same.

Please contact your State Senator and Governor Healey today and urge them to reject any attempt to weaken, narrow, or redefine the voter-approved legislative audit law.

Massachusetts voters already made their decision. Beacon Hill should respect it.