A bill to put a stop to having to worry about changing all your house and car clocks (unless you have Atomic brand, which actually don’t always comply) and watches, is pending in the California Assembly according to the Beverly Hills Patch. How do you feel about this issue? One man in favor of the passage of Assembly Bill 2496 is California Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose who actually proposed the bill which if passed would stop seasonal time changes in the state changing a law that voters approved back in 1949. Obviously there are pros and cons to this issue. On the positive side we’d never have to worry what day to change our clocks and tourists who come to town from areas without DST such as Hawaii would probably prefer this. But then some people would miss being able to say “Fall back, spring ahead.”
In 2015, a dozen states were considering DST legislation, including Oregon, Washington and Alaska. As of today only only Arizona and Hawaii eschew the time changes. The Patch article said that Chu cited health complaints from constituents as a reason to research the effects of the twice-yearly time jolts. “I heard some complaints last year from some of the senior citizens (in my district) and their care providers who say this one-hour difference really impacted their lives,” Chu told the Sacramento Bee. Some researchers on this topic also feel that there area that health and energy-saving benefits of daylight saving time may be a misnomer. According to researchers, contrary to the intent of DST, the yearly time changes actually increased the residential electricity demands of customers.
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. However it had adversaries such as the film industry who felt revenues would be reduced by DST and farmers. There is actually an End Daylight Saving Time national petition website where people can send form letters to Congress. It has nearly 83,000 mailings as of Saturday morning, according to the BH Patch.
This reporter could take it or leave it but does like the idea of never having to worry what day to reverse the clock. However DST does account for much confusion on the day we change the time with people late for appointments, over-sleeping, missing flights. Might be a good idea at that.
