Do you hear that? That’s the sound of a deadline “whooshing” by without a response.

The State Auditor’s request for information from the State Legislature has been met with stonewalling, she said, while lawmakers say they are considering the serious constitutional questions created when voters resoundingly passed Question 1 in November.

According to State Auditor Diana DiZoglio, her request for information from the State House and Senate on “high-risk areas, such as state contracting and procurement procedures, the use of taxpayer-funded nondisclosure agreements, and a review of your balance forward line item — including a review of all relevant financial receipts and information,” went unanswered as a standard 72-hour deadline passed on Thursday afternoon.

After the deadline, DiZoglio said her office had only heard a response from the House business manager, who “indicated that the Speaker is demanding that we obey his House rules instead of the law.”

“Our office has refused the Speaker’s invitation to conspire to violate the law, and is pursuing legal assistance through (the Attorney General’s) office to ensure the law of this Commonwealth is followed,” she told the Herald.

DiZoglio ran for office on promises to audit the Legislature, but her efforts were immediately stymied by leading lawmakers who expressed their belief that the State Auditor lacked the legal authority to look into the affairs of a separate branch of the state government while simultaneously pointing to publicly available audit reports created by outside auditing firms.

In November, more than 70% of Bay State voters approved a ballot measure which expressly granted the auditor the authority to audit the Legislature. The law took effect last Friday, and DiZoglio made her first request for information on Monday, kicking off a 72-hour deadline to provide requested materials.

A spokesperson for the House did not directly respond when asked if the lower chamber intended to comply with the auditor’s request as the deadline loomed Thursday, but instead pointed the Herald toward House rules, which demand “that outside, independent audits of House financial accounts be conducted for each fiscal year upon receipt of the fiscal year end appropriation activity with balance report from the comptroller of the Commonwealth.”

On Wednesday, House Speaker Mariano answered a question about his plan to comply by suggesting that compliance “is in the eye of the beholder.”

DiZoglio said he’s only acting this way because no one is holding him to account for his position.

“The Speaker views compliance with laws as being in the eye of the beholder. Since no one in a position of power to enforce the law is saying that he needs to actually follow the audit law, he feels super empowered to keep on violating it without any fear of consequences. He seems confident that no one, with any legal authority to do so, is going take him to task on enforcement of this law, so he is therefore saying and doing whatever he pleases while the entire state watches the law go unenforced,” she said.

A spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka’s office referred questions to a new subcommittee formed on Monday expressly to handle requests from the State Auditor.

That committee, chaired by Arlington Sen. Cindy Friedman, has received the Auditor’s request but has not yet acted on it, according to a statement from Friedman shared with the Herald.

“The letter from the Auditor’s Office was referred to the Senate Temporary Subcommittee on Rules during this morning’s Senate session. The request raises unprecedented issues with serious constitutional questions and must be considered by the Senate with the same deliberative process it uses for all important matters that come before it. Our subcommittee is carefully evaluating the Auditor’s proposal and will respond appropriately,” Friedman said.