Since receiving the report of a Massachusetts ethics-reform task force, Governor Patrick has moved swiftly to place a bill before the legislature. If adopted, the comprehensive measure mapped out by the task force would go far to restrain the deal-making that plagues state government, burdening taxpayers with unnecessary costs and favoring a connected few.

Among the recommendations is a very obvious proposal to toughen the penalties for bribery. Currently, Massachusetts levies the lightest punishments of all the 50 states: a $5,000 fine or three years in prison. The task force has recommended boosting the maximum fine to $100,000, with a maximum jail term of 10 years. Civil penalties for violating conflict-of-interest laws would also increase, to a possible fine of $10,000, up from $2,000.

In addition, the task force urges enhancing the tools available to law enforcement. For instance, the secretary of state’s office would gain subpoena powers to investigate improper lobbying. The attorney general would be able to convene grand juries that focus on public corruption, and also be permitted to wiretap in such cases.

The governor’s task force was assembled shortly after state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson’s arrest, in November, on federal bribery charges. Recorded conversations were essential to building the case against her. Many Bay State residents may have qualms about giving the attorney general wiretapping authority, but influence-peddling has become so corrosive that it requires a much stronger response than the state is currently able to muster. Governor Patrick, to his credit, seems to recognize this.

Salvatore DiMasi, re-elected last Wednesday as House speaker, offered a lukewarm reaction to the governor’s ethics bill. He noted that the state’s financial challenges should be the legislature’s foremost concern, implying that ethics were a minor issue. But the speaker has ethics problems of his own: For several months, the Ethics Commission has been looking into lobbying by his friends and associates. One of them, Richard Vitale, was indicted last month in connection with an alleged ticket-brokering scandal.

These days, most Americans see America’s financial crisis as inseparable from government lapses. At too many levels, regulators were either impotent or looked away as great harm was done to the public good. Few people will trust a corrupt government to set things right, yet trust is key to any recovery. The Massachusetts legislature would do well to grasp this, and approve the governor’s proposed reforms.