Recent Massachusetts political scandals, especially the latest big ones involving indicted former House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and former state Sen. Dianne Wilkerson, have brought some good news in their wake: a tighter state ethics law. (Never waste a crisis, as they say.) And such has been public anger about scandals that both houses of the now fearful legislature passed the new law unanimously.

Some might call the outrageous public-pension scams being addressed in another new law equally outrageous, but the fact is that those deals were legal! Too bad.

This is the most comprehensive ethics bill to become law in decades in the Bay State. It will ban gifts of any value to legislators, increase the penalty for state officials found to have taken a bribe to a $100,000 fine, 10 years in prison, or both, and double the penalty for breaking lobbying rules to a $10,000 fine or five years in prison.

Further, the state Ethics Commission’s power to probe and prosecute would be strengthened, and a statewide grand jury would be created to make it easier to pursue corruption cases. (Rhode Island, take note.) And the reform tightens up the law in regards to contributions from state political parties to elected officials.

There are, inevitably, weaknesses in the bill, including that the legislature will continue to be able to exempt itself far too easily from the open-meeting laws that cover local legislative bodies. The less transparency, the more possibilities for corruption, though of course there are cases in which meetings must be held in private. And a major cause of corruption –– overwhelmingly one-party rule –– can only be addressed directly by the voters. A strong two-party (or more) system, in which elected officials have much political incentive to monitor the activities of members of other parties, is a powerful curb on corruption.

Still, the law is a major advance. Coupled with the pension-reform act that Governor Patrick recently signed into law, it should make Massachusetts’s state government considerably more honest and possibly more economical, though of course it can’t revolutionize human nature.

Kudos to Governor Patrick and legislators. Let us hope that officials of neighboring states, particularly of Rhode Island and Connecticut, delve into the law to see if there are models for their jurisdictions.