Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly backed Ballot Question 1, expanding the state’s public records law to include the governor’s office and the state legislature.
Gov. Maura Healey says the state will work to implement voters' will, while State Auditor Diana DiZoglio says the result sends a clear message about government transparency and access to information about taxpayer dollars. The proposal aims to take effect Jan. 1.
...including voter registration and natural resources.
One of the clearest outcomes, though, was ballot question one.
Voters overwhelmingly support expanding the state's public records laws
to include the governor's office and the state legislature.
New at 6, Boston 25's Ellie Murillo joining us live in Lynn.
And Ellie, it's not the first time voters approved a measure
to get more transparency around lawmakers and what they're up to.
Yeah, that's right. We saw a push by State Auditor Diana DeSaglio
for an audit on the legislature and look,
essentially what ballot question one would do is give the public more
access to kind of what happens behind the scenes on Beacon Hill.
But voters want to know what does that really look like?
There's too many too much red tape in the way.
I think I think we should all be transparent about everything.
If you have nothing to hide, then why not let everybody see it?
The proposal would bring most records held by the governor's office
and state legislature
under the state's public records law.
But what would voters actually have access to?
What the public would get is they would get insight
into the documents that they're using
on which they're basing billion-dollar decisions.
We'll get access to the invoices.
How are they spending their money?
They keep all of that very...
Very private.
Government transparency expert Mary Connaughton says it's
a step towards holding elected officials accountable.
We want to know.
The basis on which they are making decisions
that affect our everyday life.
This is a huge win for democracy,
a huge win for government transparency.
And the question is, will they be up
to some monkey business and try to change,
throw a wrench into what the voters clearly want?
Governor, you spoke to our very own Kerry Kavanaugh about
the ballot question number one.
We saw an overwhelming yes from voters on election night.
What does this mean moving forward?
We'll work to implement that in the will of the voters, as always.
I supported that question, and we're ready to go.
Also still in favor is State Auditor Diana DeSaglio,
who's pushed for transparency in the legislature.
Ellie, you hit the nail on the head.
These are the same records that I've
been trying to get as your state auditor,
but that have been being denied to my office by the legislature.
They claim that it's unconstitutional for them to have
to show anyone how they're spending our taxpayer dollars.
Obviously, the voters disagree still,
and it actually seems like they disagree
with the legislature even more than they did the first time around.
But DeSaglio says there's still work to be done.
We'll see what happens, but stay tuned and please call your legislator
and tell them that you expect them to support the will
of the people fully and not to do anything to undermine it.
The proposal aims for January 1st
of next year as its effective date.
For now, we are live in Lynn.
I'm Ellie Morillo for your local
station Boston 25 news.
