State Auditor Diana DiZoglio says she will be suing Massport after releasing the findings of an audit into settlement agreements across 21 state agencies, finding that they entered into 263 agreements totaling roughly $6.8 million in taxpayer funds over a five-year span.

The auditor also on Wednesday highlighted what she calls a growing problem on Beacon Hill of a willingness to defy legally authorized audits.

“Up on Beacon Hill, those in power seem to be feeling a bit emboldened to keep pushing to see how much they can get away with withholding [information] under the law,” DiZolglio told reporters at a Wednesday press conference.

The audit focused on non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements and similar clauses used by the state agencies that were examined, including colleges and universities, constitutional offices and independent and quasi-state agencies.

“Perhaps the most concerning out of these agreements was a $1.375 million taxpayer funded settlement executed by Massport in 2022,” DiZoglio said. “That settlement utilized confidentiality and non-disparagement language, concealing a host of allegations. These allegations include gender-based discrimination, disability-based discrimination, unequal pay, disparaged treatment, and publishing false and damaging statements.”

DiZoglio went on to explain that during the audit of Massport, Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office and Massport “improperly shared sensitive information about the audit with their employees and retirees who were not involved in the audit, jeopardizing the integrity of the process.” She says both the AG’s office and Massport obstructed her access to personnel records, which she says she has legal access to according to state law.

Massport disputed DiZoglio’s account.

In a statement, the agency said, “Massport has been fully cooperative with the auditor’s team throughout this unusually lengthy process.”

DiZoglio says Massport then allegedly sent letters informing employees and retirees that the records were being reviewed, even inviting them to object to the audit entirely, a point also disputed by the agency.

Massport said in its statement that employees whose records were being sought were notified of the auditor’s request, as required by state law, the Massachusetts Fair Information Practices Act.

Now, DiZoglio says her office is suing Massport to get access to those records, pointing back to a previous audit of the governor’s office that she says AG Campbell’s office also obstructed in the same manner.

“And since the Attorney General’s office claimed the same exemption for themselves, and also previously assisted the governor in the first audit that we did of settlement agreements to also try to block our access to these documents and records, the AG is conflicted out and cannot represent our office in this lawsuit,” DiZoglio said.

Massport said DiZoglio’s press conference was the first time the agency heard of a lawsuit. Massport said it had not been served or seen any documents.

DiZoglio used Campbell’s actions to highlight the importance of allowing the state auditor’s office full access to the documents they are legally entitled to, pointing to the over $31,000 contract buyout given to former Healey aide LaMar Cook — first reported by the Herald.

“The recently publicized circumstances involving a now former state employee with a criminal history, who has been arrested and faces serious charges related to criminal activities allegedly conducted on and at the job in the governor’s Western Massachusetts office, underscores the need for access to personnel records to ensure proper oversight and compliance with all applicable laws, regulations, policies and best practices,” said DiZoglio.

“We’ve all seen that settlements with public employees come in many different forms and we the taxpayers wouldn’t know that roughly $30,000 of our hard-earned tax dollars went out to someone who was fired from their position after they were arrested on charges of cocaine trafficking and unlawful possession of a firearm. These are exactly the types of things our office is able to audit and to dig deeper on and shine a light on how and why issues like this happen,” she said.

She also criticized Healey for appearing to have changed her stance on an audit of the legislature and executive offices from her time as attorney general to her first term as governor.

“My predecessor, former Auditor Suzanne Bump, was able to access personnel records while the current governor who now has a problem with our accessing these records was attorney general at that time. But now we’re hearing that suddenly this is some big issue and that employees across the Commonwealth should be able to block the auditor’s access to records that we need to conduct our office’s reviews under law. You can’t have it both ways, friends.”

When it comes to other state agencies, the audit found widespread inconsistencies in how employee settlements are managed, with 19 of the 21 agencies audited not having written policies in place detailing how such agreements should be approved, documented, retained and tracked.

DiZoglio says without these policies in place, agencies cannot ensure settlements are handled fairly, legally and consistently. It found 20 of the 21 agencies also had no written policies on how and when to implement non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements, explaining that the lack of guidance creates a risk that confidentiality clauses may hide harassment or discrimination, poor management and misconduct.

Specifically, the audit found that Cape Cod Community College, the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and Roxbury Community College all failed to provide all requested settlement agreements, defying the legal authority of the auditor’s office.

The audit also discovered that Bridgewater State University, Bunker Hill Community College, Fitchburg State University, Greenfield Community College, Massachusetts Maritime Academy, the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, and the Office of the Commissioner of Probation failed to report 13 settlement agreements to the Comptroller’s Office, as required by state regulations.