BOSTON — Greater Newburyport's lawmakers joined with their colleagues yesterday in an effort to restore voter confidence in Beacon Hill.

The Massachusetts Legislature passed a bill to curb pension abuses that have haunted the state retirement system for years and have become lightning rods for voter outrage in the past few months.

House and Senate leaders voted unanimously to approve the bill that tighten the rules and eliminate provisions such as those that allowed the awarding of pension credits for volunteer work and the "one-day rule," which grants a full year of pension credit for working just one day of work in a year.

"It is great, and it has been long overdue," said state Sen. Steven Baddour, D-Methuen, whose district includes Newburyport, Amesbury, Salisbury and Merrimac. Baddour was in Salisbury for last night's Chamber of Commerce dinner, where he was being honored with a leadership award. "The pension bill does away with sacred cows and creates a fair system."

State Rep. Mike Costello, D-Newburyport, also at the event, applauded the hard work of both the House and Senate since February to get the bill passed.

"This is real reform, not reform for reform's sake," Costello said. "It allows people to pull out what they put in."

Democrats and Republicans across the state noted the pension system must be changed in order to draw attention and criticism away from recent scandals that have shaken the Statehouse walls.

"The Legislature has chalked up a major victory for reform," said Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, a nonpartisan, nonprofit, government watchdog dedicated to citizen participation. "The bill closes loopholes in the law and will prevent some of the most significant abuses in the pension system. Like the Senate bill, the conference committee report applies to present as well as future employees, which we applaud."

Wilmot went on to say pension abuses have threatened the trust of the public and reforming is a way of restoring some of that trust.

"This bill is a great start. But more reforms are needed — on more complex pension issues and on other subjects, such as ethics, lobbying and campaign finance reform," she said. "We look forward to applauding reform in those areas as well."

Gov. Deval Patrick vowed to sign the bill, which was unveiled by legislative leaders after being hammered out in a conference committee between the two chambers.

Under the new bill, there will be a cap on the maximum amount paid out for pension based on the base salary of the employee. It will also take away the provision that had previously allowed workers to retire in their 40s and then take other jobs while collecting pensions. Costello said the new bill will also limit abuse of pensions of people serving on local boards.

"These all go into effect July 1 for everyone," Costello said, noting the new bill will affect people who have been in the system for many years as well as new hires.

Costello classified the bill's passing as a dramatic change in the way lawmakers do business.

"The governor is happy with the bill and said he would sign it," Costello said. "He seems satisfied with the transportation bill, and that should be coming next week."

More than five months into the legislative session, the pension bill marks the first significant legislation of any kind to pass this year, aside from a handful of emergency budget provisions.