Skip to content

Senate bill to end Daylight Saving Time in Washington dies

by caprecord

Sen. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, hadn’t been the only lawmaker who proposed ending Daylight Saving Time in Washington, but the idea’s time is not now.

McCoy’s proposal died in the Senate Governmental Operations and Security Committee on Thursday, after a lack of support.

Committee member McCoy told the other members some of his constituents have complained of health issues from “springing forward” every March.

“They say it interrupts their sleep and gets them out of cycle and everything else,” he said. “Because we’re a northern tier state, in the summer months, our days are long naturally. So fooling around with the clock, I don’t see any advantage in it.”

Daylight Saving Time is when clocks are set ahead by an hour in the springtime. It was established to take advantage of daylight hours during the summer time, according to an information page on the NASA website. Most states abide by this standard. Arizona and Hawaii are exceptions.

 Sen. Marko Liias, D-Mukilteo, said he thought it was a worthy topic of discussion because of the health concerns — and says he feels them whenever the clocks are changed —  but wondered how it would affect jobs.

“My question was for people who do work with particularly the Eastern seaboard, adding an additional hour means they’re now instead of three hours off they are four hours off from work colleagues,” he said.

McCoy said that his friends in Arizona and Hawaii, two states that do not observe Daylight Saving Time, told him that residents adapt.

The bill was considered in executive session, but after determining there was little support, the committee skipped the vote. Friday would have been the deadline for bills to pass out of committee in order to continue this session.

McCoy’s was not the only bill this session to reconsider the clock. Rep. Elizabeth Scott, R-Monroe, introduced a similar bill in the House that would establish Pacific Standard Time year-round in Washington. Rep. Joe Schmick, R-Colfax, introduced a House Joint Memorial that would ask Congress to establish Daylight Saving Time all year.

Daylight Saving Time starts on March 8 this year.