This week is Sunshine Week, not because spring starts, but because there is still a constant struggle to get government leaders nationwide to open their books to illuminate how decisions are made.

Sunshine Week was started in 2002 by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and funded through a grant by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation of Miami.

So why should a community newspaper such as the Telegraph concern itself with an issue that is national in scope? The answer is easy. When it comes down to brass tacks, open access to government at the lowest levels is even more important to our daily lives here.

Let's use this issue of the Telegraph as an example. On our front page are stories about the state revoking tax credits for a proposed biomass plant south of Estancia and charges being filed against a Sandia Park man for vehicular homicide. Inside are stories about the Moriarty-Edgewood School District facing a smaller budget, a prosed water cooperative in Torrance County, the Estancia Board of Trustees debating bids on a roof repair and the proposed construction of a radio tower for Torrance County dispatch.

All these stories are important to their respective communities and all rely on access to public records.

When reporters go to a council meeting, ask to see arrest records or inspect the minutes for an animal shelter meeting, they are serving as the eyes and ears of the public. It's a responsibility not to be taken lightly, especially if those records are closed to the public.

On a state level, our government has a long history of keeping secrets from its residents. And despite protests from the public and media throughout the state, the Legislature still refuses to open access to conference committee proceedings. A conference committee is the final arbiter of the language a bill will have before being sent to the governor to sign. Sometimes similar bills are passed by the House and Senate, and a conference committee will meet to determine what part of competing bills make it to the final version. These meetings are closed to the public and the press, so lawmakers can hammer out compromises on language.

However, with the influence of lobbyists and other special interests, there is no telling how or why a compromise is made.

The Legislature has opened up a bit in the past couple of years and now provides live streaming on the Internet for some of its committee meetings and sessions of the full body.

New Mexico used to be known as the Sunshine State, but it has a long way to go before the sun truly shines on all that our government does.