The winds of reform are truly sweeping the state capital if the governor is planning a major revision of Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law.

Last week Donna Cooper, Gov. Ed Rendell's secretary for policy, told The Associated Press that he will offer legislation later this month that would greatly expand citizen access to state records and other information.

We can only hope.

Pennsylvania's open records law routinely bedevils the public by using 50-year-old language to define state documents, leaving large areas of government (like the Legislature) off limits, making it too easy for public employees to restrict access to private citizens and giving people who are denied a look at records little recourse short of going to court.

No one will be surprised to know that most other states have a more modern and citizen-friendly approach to public records. But in the political aftermath of the Legislature's 2005 pay raise, which triggered a people's uprising at the ballot box, that may be changing.

The House and the Senate are moving to reform the way they do business, and an overhaul of the public records law should be undertaken in the same spirit. Gov. Rendell said in January at his second inauguration that he wanted a new open-records statute "to ensure that every citizen can engage in the political process and hold their elected officials accountable."

Pennsylvania's outmoded law leaves people in the dark. It's time to shine a light.