The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

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March 9, 2013

Lawmaker wants to end daylight savings time

From staff reports

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — If a St. Joseph lawmaker has his way, this will be the last year Missourians have to  “spring forward” with daylight saving time. 

State Rep. Delus Johnson continued his crusade against the federal law by filing legislation that would end the twice-a-year process of setting clocks forward and then setting them back.

Currently, daylight savings time applies beginning at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of March when clocks are set forward one hour until 2 a.m. on the second Sunday of November, when they are set back one hour.

Johnson’s legislation — House Bill 340 — would make daylight savings time the new standard time. The bill calls for 20 other states to join a pact before the shift would be enacted.

The Republican lawmaker said it is something he is passionate about and intends to pursue. Johnson said his bill, which passed a House committee by a 9-3 vote, is likely to be debated on the House floor in the coming weeks.

“It is something I’ve always wondered why we’re doing,” he said last week. “It is a process I can’t comprehend why we’re doing twice a year based on century-old energy policies.”

Daylight saving time was enacted in the United States around the time of the First World War in an effort to cut down on coal consumption, because by setting clocks forward for one hour it won’t get dark in the Midwest until about 9:30 p.m., for example, rather than 8:30 p.m. The policy was more broadly enacted in the United States and other countries after the energy crisis in the 1970s.

 

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