Score one for open government in the state of Mississippi. Lawmakers on Wednesday adopted a final version of rules to let the public attend all conference committee meetings &045;&045; including those for money bills.

Those discussions may be among the most important for the public to observe, considering it is their tax dollars senators and representatives will be arguing about.

Lawmakers who oppose opening meetings of this sort sometimes argue that other professionals &045;&045; doctors and lawyers, for example &045;&045; are allowed to conduct their business in private. (In fact, one lawmaker complained last year when conference committees on tort reform were open to the public.)

But the large and obvious difference looming in that analogy is that doctors an lawyers and other professionals weren’t elected by the people to their posts, and they aren’t spending public money. Lawmakers signed on to public office, and they shouldn’t be allowed to shy away from all of their duties &045;&045; including participating in open government.

Voters deserve to see the process of government at work. Many of the bills debated on the house and senate floors wind up in conference committee, and that’s where the details are hammered out. Especially in the case of appropriations, those discussions need to be held where lawmakers can be held accountable.

We’re glad to see the last conference committees finally opened to the public. It’s a step in the right direction for open government.