California lawmakers move forward ending Daylight Saving Time

Once the bane of VCR owners everywhere, Daylight Saving Time could be a thing of a past in California. The Golden State moved closer to ending the annual hour move forward after the state Assembly passed a bill in June.

“Assembly Bill 807 is the second effort in as many years by the Legislature to revisit California’s use of Daylight Saving Time,” reports the LA Times. “The state’s voters first approved its use through a 1949 ballot measure. And because of that history, the issue must go back to voters if changes are to be made.”

The bill passed in a 48-6 vote in the Assembly. Now it advances to the state Senate. But before hope rises like the sun in the east at a reasonable hour, the Senate killed a similar effort last year.

Regarding the proposal, the LA Times goes on to note, “if placed on next year's statewide ballot, seek to keep California on a single measurement of time all year—whether it be Pacific standard time or what's now only a seasonal adjustment ahead by an hour.”

Photo by Colleen Proppe

Intended to reduce juvenile delinquency (fewer night hours for hooligans’ shenanigans), cut down on vehicular accidents, and give farmers more time to tend their crops, Daylight Saving Time first went into nationwide effect in 1966.

States can extract themselves from the law (as Arizona and Hawaii have done). But before making any real change, the a law removing Daylight Saving Time would have to clear the federal government.

• California politics updates: Lawmakers weighing in on hundreds of bills in Sacramento [LA Times]
• Daylight Saving Time Could End in California [Curbed SF]