Daylight Saving Time In PA Moves Closer To Being Abolished

HARRISBURG, PA — Daylight saving time ended Sunday morning, and Pennsylvania lawmakers could soon prohibit its return in March. The House State Government Committee approved a bill Monday that would permanently keep the state on Eastern Standard Time.

The measure now goes to the full House for a vote. If the House and Senate both approve the bill, and Gov. Tom Wolf signs it into law, the sun will set on Daylight Saving Time. A date for the House vote has yet to be scheduled.

A move to permanent standard time would put Pennsylvania in a distinct minority in America. The only two states that do not have Daylight Saving Time are Hawaii and Arizona, although Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and American Samoa also do not make the time switch.

The bill is the brainchild of Republican Rep. Russ Diamond of Lebanon County, who contends that Daylight Saving Time - launched during World War I as an attempt to save energy - has outlived its usefulness.

"There are more negative side effects from changing clocks than benefits," Diamond said in a memo to colleagues outlining his stance.

"Studies have shown that automobile accidents, workplace injuries, heart attacks, strokes, cluster headaches, depression, and suicides all increase in the weeks following clock changes. These
government-mandated interruptions of natural biological rhythms and sleep cycles can wreak havoc on job performance, academic results, and overall physical/mental health. Clock changes require farmers to make needless adjustments, as crops and animals live by the sun, not a
timepiece."

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