Democracy—or something approaching it—is coming to the New York State Senate. If the reforms that Democrats and Republicans agreed to last week stick, then the costly month-long shutdown that preceded it will have been worth the price.

The reasons the Brennan Center for Justice famously— and accurately—labeled the New York State Legislature as the country’s most dysfunctional had almost exclusively to do with the rules by which the two chambers operate. The problems required only for the Senate and Assembly to change their internal rules to fix problems that have all but destroyed democracy in Albany.

In the five years since the center issued its report, neither chamber has wanted to clean up its act. The Democrats who control the Assembly and the Republicans who until this year controlled the Senate preferred dysfunctionality to democracy. Even when Democrats won control of the Senate last fall, promising long-sought reforms, nothing changed. They, too, preferred the perks of unquestioned power.

But that election left the chamber so closely divided that the coup engineered by Republicans and backed by billionaire activist B. Thomas Golisano left the chamber rudderless for a month and pushed both parties toward reform. As part of a deal that restored order to the chamber, and power to the Democrats, Senate leaders agreed to a slate of reforms that will diminish the power of leaders and transfer more to rank-and-file members.Among the changes are measures to:

Limit officers and leaders of the Senate to eight-year terms in their leadership posts.

Give greater power to members to bring bills to a vote. Any sponsor of a bill on third reading can, with the vote of a majority of the members elected, have the bill placed on an active list for a vote by the full Senate. Previously, Senate leaders controlled which bills would be voted on.

Make it easier to move bills out of committee and onto an active list for a vote by the full Senate.

Also, and significantly, committee membership will be proportional to each conference’s representation in the Senate and committee chairs and ranking members will be able to hire some of their own staff, instead of taking whomever the leadership assigns.

These are significant changes, and they could presage more. As a spokesman for the Brennan Center observed, with leadership positions term-limited, future campaigns for those posts could turn on pledges to provide even more clout to rank-and-file members.

It is important also to note that the reforms did nothing to significantly strengthen the committee process itself. That’s a significant failure. There still is no requirement for committee hearings or bill mark-ups, which can make it easier for judges to determine legislative intent. Congress has such a system and so do virtually all other state legislatures. New York should, too.

Still, the changes that occurred are worthy. The Assembly now should follow suit. With that change, both chambers of the New York State Legislature would have opened their windows to the warm breeze of democracy and at that point, they would hardly be dysfunctional at all.