State Representative Tara T. Hong spoke on the House floor Wednesday in support of House Bill 5469, an Act promoting transparency and public access in state government, legislation aimed at expanding public access to legislative records and strengthening accountability across state government.
During floor debate, Representative Hong emphasized that the legislation is about strengthening trust between residents and their government.
“At its core, this bill is about strengthening the relationship between the people of Massachusetts and their government,” Representative Hong said. “Our residents deserve a government that is open, accountable, and accessible. They deserve to know how decisions are made, how public funds are spent, and how our institutions operate on their behalf.”
Hong says the House will, for the first time, make the Legislature subject to a new public records requirement and process, creating a clear process and statutory right for the public to access legislative records.
State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, who championed a successful 2024 ballot initiative giving her office the authority to conduct audits, fired back at the House effort and Hong specifically in a social media post published as discussion was taking place on the floor.
“Rep Tara Hong of Lowell is up on the House floor speaking against the 72% audit right now in favor of Mr. Speaker’s bill to control audits completely and nullify entirely my office’s ability to conduct an audit,” DiZoglio wrote. “Rep Hong also deleted his video previously endorsing this audit where he stated he fully supported it while campaigning for this seat. Times change quickly.”
In further outlining his support for the Bill, Hong states it also ensures the Governor’s office will be subject to existing public records law. He adds that H5469 establishes and defines the audit authority based on the four categories requested by the Auditor and her counsel:
- The official budget of any branch of the general court
- Operational expenses of either branch of the general court or of joint legislative operations
- Expenditure of funds appropriated by either branch of the general court or by joint legislative operations
- The expenditure of any monetary agreements entered into by either branch of the general court between a member, officer and/or employee
Representative Hong also highlighted that the bill invests in modernization efforts to improve transparency practices across state government.
“H.5469 makes an important investment in implementation, providing funding to modernize recordkeeping systems and improve access across the House, Senate, executive branch, and joint legislative operations,” Hong stated. “These resources will help ensure that transparency is not just a promise, but a practice that can be carried out effectively.”
The legislation also includes provisions that:
● Establish legislative records access officers for both the House and Senate;
● Create timelines and procedures for public records requests and appeals;
● Expand public access to committee activity, voting records, fiscal documents, and legislative reports;
● Allow oversight by the State Auditor of administrative operations such as budgeting, payroll, and vendor spending.
Representative Hong states that the legislation carefully balances transparency with constitutional independence and effective governance.
“This legislation also recognizes a fundamental truth: transparency and accountability are not partisan values. They are public values,” Representative Hong said. “Every resident of the Commonwealth—regardless of political views—benefits from a government that is open and accountable.”
4 responses to “As Audit Battle Reignites, Rep. Hong Outlines Support for House Bill”
When will the will of the voters be respected? What is the whole purpose of a ballot question when politicians on Beacon Hill will just overturn it in some shape or form? I think that state officials should respect the will of the voters and not circumvent the voters.
What a paradox! The House Legislators want to preserve and protect the “separation of powers” from the State Auditor, yet, House Bill 5469 is doing the same thing, in the opposite direction, VIOLATING the “separation of powers” by eliminating and not including the judiciary check and oversight by the Supreme Judicial Court in this bill. This is unconstitutional and in the end will still need to be decided by the Supreme Judicial Court.
In Marbury v. Madison (and mirrored in state constitutional law), “the judiciary has the ultimate power to determine what is constitutional”. The Legislature cannot write a simple law to strip the Supreme Judicial Court of its core constitutional duty which is “to adjudicate separation of powers crises”.
So in the end, the Supreme Judicial Court will still have to rule on whether the Legislature’s attempt to isolate itself from both executive auditing and judicial review violates Article 30 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, which explicitly mandates the separation of powers.
What is the whole purpose of a ballot question/questions”? Great question Mr. Porters.
ALL these ballot questions, especially the ones coming up and to be decided upon by the voters is not practicing good government. Why, because it is the job and responsibility of the State Representatives and State Senators, that’s why we elect them and what they get paid for. Does the Legislature really think that the people have the time to do the extensive research needed for these very complex issues? Instead, ALL these ballot questions need to be thoroughly researched and debated on in the House and Senate with compromise and amendments if needed.