Congratulations and thank you, state legislators.

Members of the House and Senate by unanimous votes have done what citizens across the commonwealth, and news outlets in particular, have been advocating for a very long time. They adopted a modern open records law, and Gov. Ed Rendell said he will sign it.

The new law takes giant steps beyond its antiquated predecessor, enacted 51 years ago and barely revised since. The most fundamental change it makes is switching the presumption of law so that, rather than forcing people who are seeking government records to prove why they should have them, it assumes at the start that most records are open. Additionally, it broadens the affected agencies to include state-related universities, including Pitt and Penn State, and the Legislature itself, a collective that lately has proved deserving of the most careful scrutiny.

Yet a good law on the books won't mean anything if it is not effectively used to permit Pennsylvanians to see the important operations of their municipal, county, state and school district offices.

In 2005, The Associated Press conducted an audit of 700 agencies across the state. Journalists from 50 newspapers and one television station sought records that were public under the old law. Although half of the requests eventually were met, that frequently did not happen before government employees either tried to block access or demanded to be told the reason for the requests. In 10 percent of the cases, inquiries were flatly rejected.

There is bound to be confusion when the new law takes effect, which for most provisions won't be until next January. But it contains provisions for an Office of Open Records that will be required to provide annual training courses for agencies, officials and public employees, including regional programs for some offices and instructions on open meeting provisions.

Information on procedures, fees, advisory legal opinions and decisions are to be showcased on a state-maintained Web site, and the governor is required to appoint an executive director, who will serve as head of the agency for six years, limited to two terms. The director will appoint clerical, technical and professional staff and attorneys to act as appeals officers.

No law is perfect, and the implementation of this one, no doubt, will face its own challenges. But the Legislature has done an effective job on open records.

Now, on to the rest of that to-do list.