Washington House OKs step toward year-round daylight saving

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Rachel La Corte, Associated Press Updated 5:18 pm CST, Saturday, March 9, 2019

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — As daylight saving time is set to take effect in most of the U.S. this weekend, the Washington House passed a measure Saturday that would make those later sunsets permanent in the state all year — if Congress allows it.

The measure passed the chamber on an 89-7 vote and now heads to the Senate, which has its own bill on the topic. The vote comes as more than two dozen states are considering measures to avoid the twice-yearly clock change.

Both the Senate and House measures would only take effect if Congress passes legislation allowing states to observe daylight saving time year-round. Currently, it is observed from the second Sunday in March until the first Sunday in November.

Democratic Rep. Marcus Riccelli of Spokane cited safety and health benefits among the reasons he sponsored the measure. "It's time to hashtag ditch the switch, bring the light and put Washington at the forefront of this movement," he said during debate before the vote.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Washington-House-OKs-step-toward-year-round-13676315.php

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

1. Didin't Jerry Ford try that?

If I remember correctly, it was wildly unpopular.

[Dave Starsky]

7. Ah, yes. I remember walking to school in the frigid, pitch dark.

Those were good times.

I don't recall it lasting more than a few months before America threw in the towel.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

25. We had standard time all winter in MI, ...

... and kids were walking to school in the frigid, pitch dark. Well, not pitch dark, we have some streetlights, but still, pretty dark.

Keeping daylight time all year would just extend the dark walk by a few weeks at either end of winter. It won't actually make it any more frigid. Polar vortices are gonna do what they do, damn things.

[dalton99a]

15. It was Nixon

[BumRushDaShow]

2. "a measure Saturday that would make those later sunsets permanent"

WTF? That's not how sunrises and sunsets work during the course of a year.

[nitpicker]

3. On the other hand, late sunrises in Seattle

At the end of last year, the sun rose at 7:57 am.

This measure would move the clock time of sunrise to 8:57 am.

[TexasBushwhacker]

26. So the question is do you want to drive to work in the dark

Or drive home in the dark? I live further south, so it's not as extreme for me, but when I visited Chicago one New Years and the street lights started coming on at 4 pm it freaked me out.

[samnsara]

4. walking the dog before work will always be a bit trickier and colder now

[logosoco]

5. I might agree to this IF...

we change the time middle school and high school starts to a later time. Toddlers like to get up at the crack of dawn, teenagers not so much.

[Duppers]

8. Indeedy!

Studies confirm what most parents know.

[Andy Dzhubois]

6. A Bad Idea All Around

From the comments thus far, I see I'm not alone.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. Greater need for metrification than this. Next D nominee should make it a plank.

That would totally differentiate the backward-looking folk from the forward-looking majority (Democratic, progressive, liberal). Plus it is long overdue. And it would drive Fox nuts. Metric Communists!

[vsrazdem]

10. Arizona does not have it and it doesn't seem to bother us.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

16. Easier for Arizona. It is much farther south than Washington state, so the variation is not as much.

[vsrazdem]

23. We are not any further south than Mississippi or Georgia. The time zones are set to

standardize daylight. Our sunrise today was 6:45, Washington was 7:33, but we did not set our clocks ahead or it would have been roughly the same.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

24. Well of course! We are near the Equinox! Less variation around the Equinox! . . . nt

[Boomer]

11. Let it go!

Shifting time twice a year has terrible effects on health. There are well-documented reasons why DST is a really bad idea. I wish we could get rid of it altogether, throughout the country.

[Delphinus]

29. Thank you!

I mentioned that in another thread. Yes, stop it.

[McKim]

12. More Dangerous for Kids

This is more dangerous for kids walking to school, the way people drive!!!! There should be a national campaign at least for all kids to wear some reflective gear or hats.

[oldsoftie]

20. You mean there are places where kids still actually WALK to school??

Around here every little precious gets a ride to and from school even when they live in the neighborhood right beside the school!

[Cold War Spook]

21. Growing up in Boston there was a 2 mile rule.

Under 2 miles to school and you walked. Even in kindergarten I had to walk to school even in the Winter. That was a long 80'. In Broward Florida, I don't know if it is a county of state law, that from your house to the school there had to be a 36" unobstructed sidewalk for you to walk to school no matter how close you lived to the school.

[meadowlander]

28. Wouldn't it be easier to just start the school day

An hour later? That has to be less trouble than asking everyone to adjust their clocks twice a year.

[forgotmylogin]

39. That's not a bad idea...

Making the school day 10-4 for older kids.

I can see it being a problem for parents who work and drop their children off on the way or very young ones who ride the bus and need help getting there before their parents have to leave.

Perhaps the solution would be to open school early for supervised drop-off and breakfast for those who need it, and also provide an extra "safe" hour between 4-5pm so kids who would otherwise be home alone could remain there with supervision.

[NutmegYankee]

32. How so? Children walk to bus stops in the dark now.

I call early winter the dark to the dark, because I'm at work for the entire sunlit day.

[GoneOffShore]

13. It's going to be happening in Europe as well.

Yay!

[MikeJelf]

14. GALILEO REPUDIATED by LEGISLATORS: Urban VIII Ecstatic!

It should surprise no one in a century which turned up, by popular demand, after its predecessor had passed only 99 years, when ignorance triumphs again.
Yet it does, by law, twice each year.
Ignorance, in this case, is of the planet on which we live, and which gives us life, and of its operations.
This ignorance is expressed in the ritual of turning clocks ahead an hour each spring and back again each fall.
The only reason for such a needless and disruptive farce is that we love to lie to ourselves.
And when we turn our clocks forth or back an hour we are lying.
As each hour results from division of a day into 24 parts, and Earth is divided into 360 degrees, like any self-respecting and well-rounded circle of life, when we arbitrarily move a clock by an hour we claim the planet has jumped instantaneously 15 degrees east or west.
Of course our bodies know better
The claims of increases in accidents, myocardial infarcts and diminished student performance are easily understood.
What do we get for our lies? How much more sunlight does Daylight Saving Time / British Summertime give us?
None. Not one nanosecond.
Yet one hears and reads supposedly authoritative sources (a public radio network, an internet business information site) claiming the clock change imparts an extra hour of light each spring.
If the Earth's rotation altered instantaneously by 4.2% in fact, it would be a much bigger story than our silly clock ritual, but there might be no one left to report it.
Nothing the clock change claims to accomplish cannot be achieved by simply changing our schedules. Pub and shop opening hours change from day to day within the week without riots resulting.
So why change the clocks?
Our ancestors, who knew their lives depended on this planet, were wiser than we. They counted the hours and marked the seasons with great care, respect and fidelity.
Small wonder that when truth has become whatever we wish to believe, objective reality no longer can be imagined.
Congratulations, Urban VIII!

[oldsoftie]

19. Man, you would make a great televangelist!

[KPN]

17. Yay! About time. After having lived in Arizona for7 years in the 80s, I've always had a longing

for no more clock changes, and lighter days longer in to the evening.

[Andy823]

40. I lived in Arizona for 6 years

Back in the back in the 60's, then move to Washington state. I hated the time change twice a year in Washington, and I still do. I would love to see it end.

[oldsoftie]

18. Good. I hate 5pm darkness in the winter.

[Coventina]

22. So they're eliminating standard time?

That seems weird.

[NutmegYankee]

33. Why? Time is a man made thing.

Animals just follow the sun, we have alarm clocks, daily schedules, and prime time TV instead...

[colorado_ufo]

27. I remember at one point having "double daylight savings time."

I think it was when we had year-round daylight savings, but it still changed during the summer months.

The best description of daylight savings time I ever saw was a political cartoon, I think of Nixon to an Elephant, saying, "We just cut off this end of the blanket and sew it onto the other end to make it longer!" Sorry that I don't know to whom to credit this.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

30. FYI

The changing of the time twice a year was once said to aid farmers. Ever asked a farmer about this ? They hate it. Cows don't give a toss about when the sun sets. Crops don't prosper or fail due to the time when the sun rises.

In 2005, "W" made the time changes a permanent thing. The changes used to be six months apart. Then he extended the time from September to November.

Why ?

So that Disney, Paramount, Universal and all of the other theme parks across the nation and especially in the south could be open longer in the year. In short, the decision was based on PROFITS for the amusement park industry, NOT the better welfare of American citizens. It was all about MONEY.

You can research this for yourself, but I remember this very well.

[canetoad]

31. I'm in southern Australia

On AEST (UTC -11 during daylight saving). It was extended to a full 6 months a number of years ago. I always suspected the main reason was economic - bars, street cafes etc are always busier on warm nights.

Personally, I'm a very early morning person and enjoy walking the dogs at 6am, whatever the weather, so do not really enjoy it when the clocks go forward and we're out in the dark. Guess there's no money in folk excercising their dogs.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

34. G'Day Mate !!

And I doubt your dog likes it either !

[canetoad]

35. G'day to you too!

When they were younger, they loved the dark mornings - it's a very wild, deserted coastline with kms of scrubby dunes. The little buggers would be off chasing foxes in the dark. With a howling wind and sea, I took to carrying a FIFA refs whistle; not to make them come back but so the little heathens would know where to find me when they'd finished chasing.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

36. My Mum had a girl guide's whistle that could be heard over EIGHT KILOMETERS !

Whenever she wanted us to high-tail it home, we'd hear that whistle. I swear sometimes I still hear it in my nightmares !

I envy you -- you get to see Roos and Koalas and Wallabys and Sugar Gliders and Echidnas and Wombats (Do they really poop in cubes ?) and thank goodness for the Discover Channel !!

[canetoad]

37. Emus too

There's a little gang of three or four living around the outskirts of our small town. They're pretty unfussable birds.

Wombat poo varies depending on time of year and diet. Blackberry season results in a purplish 'porridge'. When it's dry, yep it is a sort of vaguely cubic shape.

I have to pass this on; I once ate refried haggis for breakfast!

[Haggis for Breakfast]

38. NOTHING WRONG WITH HAGGIS FOR BREAKFAST !!!

Side of tatties and neeps, too. Builds character !! Starts you on the day right as rain.

[But for breakfast, I leave off the wee dollop of scotch - too early in the day for that.]

I do marvel at all of the unique creatures that Mother Nature has blessed you all with. So exotic. I saw a special about your last drought, that Koalas were actually coming up to be folks looking for water and some Game Wardens strapping water barrels to eucalyptus trees for them. Does it help ? Do the Roos come looking for water as well ? I saw a clip of some chap with a dribble cup refreshing a young mum with a baby in her pouch by the side of the road.

Climate change is certainly going to change how we all proceed into the future.