Daylight Saving Time May End in Calif.: Bill Inches Closer to Ballot

By Renee Schiavone and Dave Colby

Have you ever imagined a day when we would no longer have to worry about "springing ahead" or "falling back"? Well, we're one step closer to that becoming a reality.

On Monday, AB 385— or the Elimination of Daylight Saving Time Bill— passed California's Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.

The bill was introduced last year by California Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose, who is following the lead of several other states in trying to pass similar legislation.

If the bill goes on to obtain a two-thirds majority vote in the state's Legislature and is signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, it will then be up to the voters to decide if the proposal should become law.

In 2015, a dozen states were considering DST legislation, including Oregon, Washington and Alaska. Currently, only Arizona and Hawaii take a pass on the seasonal time changes twice each year.

Chu believes things should definitely change here in California.

“California should be leading this change,” Chu said in a press statement. “I cannot believe that anybody would like to do this fall backward, spring forward thing twice a year.”

Chu says health complaints from constituents first got him going on the issue. He also cites research, notably a study from Indiana, indicating the so-called energy benefits of daylight saving time may be a misnomer. The Indiana study looked at what effect - if any - switching to daylight savings time had for the state from 2004 to 2006.

According to researchers, contrary to the intent of DST, the yearly time changes actually increased the residential electricity demands of customers.

The study estimated a cost of increased electricity bills to Indiana households of $9 million per year and estimated social costs of increased pollution ranging from $1.7 to $5.5 million per year.

However, an analysis by staff of the California Energy Commission says the study may not yield the same results for California because:

• The use of residential air conditioning is relatively low in Indiana, and the saturations are low. California has high usage of air conditioning in the summer.
• Heating use is relatively high in Indiana, while it is relatively low in California.
• The diurnal variation in Indiana temperature is low while California is very high.
• Indiana is located in western edge of the same time zone as Maine and Florida, but the sun actually comes up at an earlier time than those other two states.
• Indiana’s north-south location will affect how long the days are in the summer and might very well lead to different results in different areas.

So, concludes the CEC, “while the analysis is of interest to Indiana, it’s conclusions may not be totally correct for California or the rest of the country.”

Daylight saving time began in California after World War II with the passage of Proposition 12. Proponents noted it would give people an extra hour of daylight, increase industrial production and improve public health. Advocates also said it would reduce juvenile delinquency.

Those against passage of Prop 12 at the time included the motion picture industry, which claimed revenues were reduced 20- 35 percent by DST; farmers, who claimed ”cows know nothing of ’Daylight Saving’ and give milk by Nature’s laws”; and housewives, who “would be compelled to labor hardest in the hottest hours of the day and to put to bed (their) children while the sun is still shining.”

An End Daylight Saving Time national petition website that allows people the chance to send form letters to Congress has more than 123,000 mailings as of Tuesday morning.

• “Day Light Savings saves no daylight and it messes with people biological clocks,” says a Santa Clara petitioner. “This results in decreased productivity, missed meetings and accidents attributed to the time shift.”
• "The change of time is utterly ridiculous. Just pick a time and stick with it. The costs of increased traffic accidents and rates of depression don't even come close to the value of 'extended daytime'. Please just leave the clocks alone," adds a Castro Valley woman.

What about YOU? Would you like to see the elimination of Daylight Saving Time? Let us know in the comments!

Image via Shutterstock.