Daylight Savings Time Kicks In This Weekend, But Utah May Soon Opt Out

Daylight Savings Time begins this Sunday, March 9. Americans — well, almost all Americans — will set their clocks ahead one hour at 2 am on Sunday morning, meaning that the nation loses an hour of sleep. But one state is now considering legislation to end the twice-yearly clock adjustment.

Actually, most of Arizona already ignores Daylight Savings Time. Within that state, only the Navajo Nation will set the clock forward Sunday. Hawaii also does not observe Daylight Savings.

Now Utah may join the short list of Daylight Savings renegades. While the state’s House Bill 197 would not actually end Daylight Savings Time — yet — if passed it requires the Governor’s Office of Economic Development to “discuss” whether or not to stick with the extra hour of daylight.

Of course, under Daylight Savings Time, an additional hour of light in the early evening means one less hour of light in the morning.

Utah State Representative Ronda Menlove sponsors the Daylight Savings Time “discussion” bill in Utah and says she only wants people to be “educated” about the national time-shift.

“The most important outcome is to let the people feel like they have been heard,” said Menlove. “We could choose to not switch.”

While it appears that Utah may be leaning toward getting rid of Daylight Savings Time, there is another possibility — one that would take the state in a completely opposite direction, though it too would eliminate clock-changes.

Utah State Senator Evan Vickers said that his constituents not only want to keep Daylight Savings Time — they want to make it a year-round deal.

The three main groups who would prefer a 365-day Daylight Savings period, Vickers says, are farmers and ranchers who hold regular jobs but need to work their lands late in the day; fishermen and hunters who desire the after-work hours to engage in their outdoor activities; and finally, car dealers. They say that customers enjoy browsing their automotive inventories once the workday is over, and they are more comfortable shopping in daylight.

The country tried year-round Daylight Savings Time in 1974, but the experiment didn’t even last one full year amid gripes that mornings were too dark for commuters and children headed to school.

[Image: Jekaterina Vassilenko / Shutterstock]