A bill to repeal daylight saving time in Oklahoma has been recommended for passage. As reported by KOCO, the House Committee voted in favor of Bill 2557 by Rep. Harold Wright, R-Weatherford. If the bill passes, the bi-annual changing of the clocks would no longer apply to Oklahoma, said Rep. Todd Russ, R-Cordell.
"Dusk in the summertime would arrive between 8 and 8:30 p.m. instead of 9 and 9:30 p.m."
"We'd see daybreak about 4 a.m... we would be out of step, or out of time, with most of the rest of the country... Oklahoma companies might encounter problems in their dealings with businesses in other states and foreign nations because of time conflicts."
"He said research has shown an increase in heart attacks and traffic accidents in the days immediately after clocks are pushed forward one hour each spring. Advancing the clock forward for daylight savings time results in the loss of an hour of sleep on the morning after the change, and it disrupts the body's circadian (biological) rhythm."
While daylight saving time started in the United States as a wartime effort to save on fuel, the idea of a seasonal time change was first proposed in 1895 by George Hudson, from New Zealand, who wanted more sunlit hours in which to catch and study insects.