"TWO WEEKS AGO, the House passed legislation that establishes a framework for a constitutionally viable financial audit of the Legislature, and that subjects the Legislature and governor’s office to public records law for the first time.
The bill provides the state auditor, Diana DiZoglio, with all of the documents that she has requested and codifies into law an extensive list of documents that the Legislature must make available to the public.
To craft the audit section of this legislation, the House worked diligently to address the separation of powers concerns that have been raised by constitutional scholars, while working closely with good-government and transparency advocates at the ACLU of Massachusetts and Common Cause Massachusetts to draft the public records portion of the bill.
In other words, the House bill demonstrates the advantages that are unique to the legislative process – a system through which members of the public, experts, and advocates from across the political spectrum can come together to arm legislators with a baseline of facts and best practices in order to produce practical, effective legislation that is responsive to our constituents.
Since then, experts on this issue have argued that the House bill takes “an important step toward enhancing legislative transparency.” Upon passage, the ACLU of Massachusetts said that this approach will give residents the legal right “to documents providing a wealth of insight into legislative and gubernatorial operations, finances, audits, ethics, and where individual legislators stand on important policy decisions.”
The problem, though, is that you probably didn’t hear any of that."
Continue reading the Opinion piece by Ronald Mariano, speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
Franklin's State Rep Jeff Roy outlined this issue recently
