The Massachusetts Legislature recently approved a bill intended to bail out the state's financially troubled public transportation operator, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA).

However, some lawmakers were prompted to raise questions about the organization's inventory compliance and management after seeing the results of a recent audit conducted by Ernst & Young, which revealed "gaps" in the MBTA's procedures for handling materials, according to the State House News Service.

Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, described the MBTA as "an agency whose philosophy is 'spend first, ask questions later,'" as quoted by the news source.

"Spend, spend, spend, and then ask the question: Do we know where the inventory is?" he said of the organization's approach earlier this month, in response to criticism from the MBTA's board of directors about how long it was taking to pass the bailout.

In addition to the bailout, fares will rise by an average of 23 percent and service reductions will take place in some areas in an attempt to combat the agency's $159 million deficit, The Boston Globe reports. 

To read more about the bill, click here.