It's early and nothing is etched in stone, but it appears state lawmakers, after months of debate, are about to carry out real reform in Pennsylvania.

On two immensely important issues — property-tax relief and open-records  — the Legislature took bold, dramatic steps this week.

By a margin of 159-36, the House passed a meaningful, targeted tax-reform measure aimed at giving low-income seniors relief from  burdensome property taxes.

The Senate, in the meantime, unanimously passed an invigorated open-records law, a measure that would assure that citizens have broad access to the records of the government agencies that their tax dollars support.

The House approach to property-tax reform, if accepted by the Senate, would end decades of debate over how the state could ease the tax burden on elderly residents who live on fixed incomes.

The measure would take the billion dollars (or more) that is projected in slot-machine revenue each year and use it to pay the taxes on 600,000 homes and other properties owned by older Pennsylvanians.

Seniors with household incomes of as much as $40,000 would see their property tax bills eliminated.

While perhaps not perfect — some would like every Pennsylvania family to get property-tax relief — the House bill substantially eases financial pressures on those who most need the relief.

In a very practical sense, it is perhaps the best piece of property tax reform legislation this state has seen in the past 25 years.

The Senate's open-records bill, if accepted by the House, has an even larger, historic dimension to it.

For more than 50 years, Pennsylvanians have lived under one of the weakest open-records law in the nation.

Information that is readily available to citizens in most states — a list of a community's worst traffic-accident sites, for example — is kept secret in Pennsylvania.

The new measure would assume most government records are open to the public, including most of those of the General Assembly.

But it also contains sensible provisions for privacy for those records that any reasonable person believes should remain confidential — the paperwork of ongoing police investigations, individuals' personal medical and financial records, and the addresses of domestic   violence and stalker victims.

The idea that legislative records, previously closed to the public, would be open to public scrutiny may make a handful of lawmakers nervous. But most know that, unless they have something to hide, there is no reason for worry.

Next week, the House is expected to vote on the open-records bill. The Senate could take up property-tax relief, as soon as the House sends them its proposal.

There are no guarantees, of course. Either branch of the General Assembly could sandbag property tax reform. The House could stall or kill open-records reform.

But in discussions this past week, leaders of both parties in both Houses seemed genuinely interested in moving Pennsylvania forward.

If lawmakers pass their bills next week — and they could if they want to — Pennsylvanians would have an unmistakable sign that their elected representatives are intent on real reform —  and are not merely engaged in old-time, election-year role-playing. ("I voted for reform but, gosh, those other guys didn't.")

The path to reform is obvious. We're hopeful our legislators in both parties will have the courage to put aside partisan concerns, do the right thing and support these historic reforms.