DiZoglio wants to audit the Legislature. However, there are no other tests

For example, no audit is listed for the Massachusetts Marketing Partnership (founded in 2010), which spent about $47 million on public relations and tourism for the state last year.

WBUR's analysis of published audits also found a backlog of 37 agencies that had not been audited in five or more years. More than half of these had previous audits that found “adverse findings” such as waste or administrative deficiencies.

For example, the 2014 audit of the State Office for Pharmacy Services found that up to $10 million had been wasted due to inefficient systems and identified a potential conflict of interest involving the executive director. The agency has not been audited since then.

And despite scandals at the Registry of Motor Vehicles in 2021 and the Holyoke Soldiers' Home in 2020, which included administrative failures, deadly consequences and calls for reform, neither has been audited in the past six years.

The comptroller's office has long faced challenges in fulfilling the three-year mandate that took effect in 2011. Bump, who declined to comment, also struggled to conduct enough checks.

DiZoglio did not answer questions about why the office had not audited any of these agencies, whose review was long overdue. However, she blamed the agencies themselves for the recent delays in testing.

“Our office has waited more than six months for the documents we requested to complete our audits,” the statement said.

DiZoglio's office later added that “more than 60 audits are in progress, spanning more than 100 state agencies.”

Karissa Hand, a spokeswoman for Gov. Maura Healey, said the administration is working with DiZoglio to ensure “full cooperation and transparency” from state agencies. Hand did not address why some of the agencies were never audited.

Several state government experts told WBUR that it's not surprising that exam numbers have fallen since DiZoglio took over.

“In the first few years of getting used to a new office, you can expect lower efficiency and performance,” said Evan Horowitz, director of the Center for State Policy Analysis at Tufts University. “But this comptroller also chose to take on a major side project at the same time as pushing the ballot issue… I would be surprised if it wasn't distracting.”

DiZoglio said the Legislature remains secretive and has made auditing the panel its mission.

Polls show that most voters support Question 1. However, many legal analysts believe the measure violates the Massachusetts Constitution. Bump, the former comptroller, also opposes the ballot question, saying it would “politicize and degrade” the comptroller's office.

In 2023, Attorney General Andrea Campbell determined that under current law, DiZoglio's needed the Legislature's approval for the audit. Campbell allowed the ballot question but wrote that if it passes, “we may need to consider whether and to what extent constitutional limitations affect the application of the law.”

If the question passes, it will likely result in a court challenge.

Last week, DiZoglio's office released a controversial 77-page report that cited the Legislature for a “lack of transparency,” late financial reports and procurement problems. Legislative leaders refused to cooperate with the comptroller's office, and House Speaker Ronald Mariano called DiZoglio's report “pure political self-promotion.”

In a statement to WBUR, Mariano said DiZoglio should “focus on her legally required reviews as she continues to perform worse than her predecessors in completing this important work.”