People have strong feelings about sunlight in the Pacific Northwest. Those feelings were on display during testimony on Senate Bill 5795, a bipartisan effort to put Washington on year-round Standard Time starting this fall.
Supporters of year-round Standard Time say the transition to DST interrupts natural sleep/wake cycles, is linked to an increase in health problems and is also associated with an uptick in traffic collisions.
“Some call it God’s clock for its connection to nature. It balances the light fairly between the morning and the afternoon to benefit everyone equally. The doctors will tell you who are here testifying as well. That is the best clock for our mental health, our physical health, our safety while driving or working. It’s best for our productivity, the economy, it’s best for our children’s education. Those who want more daylight after work, I would employ them simply to start their work days earlier rather than try to force everyone else into an unhealthy lifestyle,” said Jay Pea during testimony on SB 5795.
Supporters of Daylight Saving Time contend that it allows more time for healthy outdoor activities and results in fewer traffic accidents at night than Standard Time.
“Now, don’t get me wrong. I agree with all the great quotes. Ditch the switch! Everybody hates the switch! But people are really objecting to, in those polls that Mr. Pea brought up, the switch itself. You’re right, people don’t like losing an hour of sleep. I have seen numbers of studies that show that, but it’s not Daylight Saving Time that they’re objecting to, they’re objecting to Standard Time. Nobody wants the sun to go down at 4:30 p.m.,“ said Steve Calandrillo during testimony on SB 5795.
The bill contains a clause that would allow one final time change to switch into permanent Daylight Saving Time when that becomes an option.
“The legislature here made its position clear in 2019 that we wanted to go to year round daylight time. The hitch in the giddyup, so to speak, was Congress,” said Sen. Mike Padden (R-Spokane Valley), prime sponsor of SB 5795.
Since 1966, the Uniform Time Act has required states to either opt-in to Daylight Saving Time or opt-out completely. States can unilaterally decide to move to permanent Standard Time, but going to year-round DST requires Congressional approval.
“In 2022, the U.S. Senate did act and approve it, but it has been stuck in the House. It’s in the Energy Committee. My congresswoman, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, chairs that committee. She supports year round daylight time, but there aren’t the votes in that committee. And apparently there are not the votes in the House. So they’ve had that for years,” said Padden. “And it’s not just our state. We’re working in conjunction with other states, with Oregon, California and Idaho. And then I understand there’s states in the Midwest. They’re looking at this, too. So I think you might see a trend of a number of states doing what we hope to do here in our state, and perhaps, perhaps that might encourage Congress to take some action also.”
“I think most people agree that we shouldn’t be switching twice a day. Everyone has very strong preferences on what they want, whether it’s standard or daylight savings time. And that is why we had that big discussion in 2019 and the state decided to go with daylight savings. And I know that controversy is still there,” said Sen. Manka Dhingra (D-Redmond) co-sponsor of SB 5795.
“When people testified, they still talked about what they preferred. But I think that’s why I like the way in which the bill is structured, because it says the state had its discussion. We made our decision. We’re not reevaluating which one we prefer. That preference has been made. This is just, what do we do in the meantime until Congress acts?” she continued.