Boston - On the strength of its campaign finance rules and despite shortcomings on open records laws, Massachusetts ranked 20th among the states for good government, according to a new report from the Better Government Association.

The Bay State scored highly on its conflict of interest laws, but lagged in the association’s “Integrity Index” on two key metrics, finishing 42nd on open record laws and 37th on open meeting laws.

“Massachusetts should be congratulated that it beat out thirty other states,” said BGA executive director Jay Stewart, in a statement, “however, there is clearly a lot of room for improvement. If you look at the percentage score, Massachusetts received 54%, the equivalent of a F letter grade, hardly a cause for celebration.”

Leading the way, with a 65 percent score was New Jersey, followed by Rhode Island, Hawaii, Washington and Louisiana. At the bottom of the pack were Montana, Tennessee, Alabama, Vermont and South Dakota. Scores were largely based on campaign contribution limits, the “presence and depth of transparency laws,” and the “strictness of penalties for ethics violations.”

Massachusetts scored points for requiring freedom of information requests to be answered within 10 days and for its appeal process but score 0 points for imposing penalties for violations of the law and for handling the fees and costs of such requests.

Massachusetts received an average score for protecting whistleblowers and notifying them of their rights but scored 0 points for enforcing violations of whistleblower laws.

In the Bay State’s highest scoring category, campaign finance, Massachusetts scored points for disclosure requirements and contribution limits on individuals, families, corporations and labor unions. The state scored 0 points for lacking limits on state and national party contributions.

The 85-year-old association is an independent, non-partisan watchdog group based in Chicago.