California took a step this week toward ending daylight saving time, when a legislative committee approved a bill to stop the practice.
If Assembly Bill 385 is approved by a two-thirds majority of both houses of the California Legislature and signed by Gov. Jerry Brown, it would then go on the ballot for voters to decide.
Hawaii and Arizona are the only other two states not to observe daylight saving time, the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour to extend daylight hours deeper into the evening. This year’s daylight saving time began March 13 and ends at 2 a.m. on November 6.
Assemblyman Kansen Chu, D-San Jose, cited research that shoots down the idea that daylight saving time saves energy, as well as studies showing an increase of vehicle and workplace accidents because of the changing of the clocks, in support of the bill.
“Daylight saving time is an institution that has been in place largely without a question for more than half a century,” Chu told The Sacramento Bee. “I think we owe it to the general public to be given the opportunity to decide for themselves whether or not daylight saving time ought to be continued.”
Should California voters decide to nix daylight saving time in November, the federal government would have to approve the move. A resolution asking Congress to allow the change also passed the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee on Monday.
